Title: Structural Performance Restoration of Fiber-Reinforced Composite Patch Repair for Steel Bridge Girders

Authors: Caden Cowles, Garam Kim, Gourab Ghosh

DOI:

Abstract: Composite materials are becoming a common technique for the repair or creation of high strength parts. Recently, composites have been introduced into the infrastructure repair and restoration of the construction industry. This study focuses on the repair of steel bridge girders damaged by corrosion, using composite means. Traditional bridge repair methods include either replacing the entire beam or applying composites following the shape of the damage; both repairs can be time extensive, intrusive, and shut down traffic over the bridge. In this study, fiber reinforced composite patch repairs, applied parallel to load direction, often used for aerospace or automotive repairs, will be implemented and demonstrated for steel bridge girder repairs. This research aims to investigate how the use of composite patches restores the mechanical properties of the damaged test specimen. Composite patch repairs are bonded to steel test specimens fabricated with machined sections to replicate corrosion damage; these specimens are then put under compressive testing along with a control specimen to understand the performance of the composite patches. Throughout this study, different composite patch repair methods are explored such as ply number, ply orientation, and bonding methods. The steel test specimens were repaired with composite patches designed to align fiber direction with the primary compressive stress path, augmenting the strength. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was employed to generate predictive models of compressive behavior, while experimental testing is performed under comparable loading conditions to validate numerical results. Throughout the experiment, the optimized patch repair induced greater load bearing recovery than the traditional patch repair, while adding additional plies outside the damaged area greatly increased strength up to a maximum of around 108%. By correlating FEA predictions with experimental results, the study evaluates how the bonding technique and ply configuration influence the mechanical property recovery of the test specimen.

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Conference: SAMPE 2026

Publication Date: 2026/04/27

SKU: 136

Pages: 17

Price: $34.00