Fatigue life of damaged bridge deck panels strengthened with carbon fiber sheet

Abstract

To simulate fatigue damage to bridge deck slabs, cyclic loading was applied to test panels, which were then reinforced with carbon fiber Sheets (CFS) using two different methods. Subsequently the strengthened panels were tested under cyclic loads. The observed response to fatigue loads differed markedly from the results of static tests. Isotropic reinforcement was found to be more effective than unidirectional strengthening. A simple life span prediction method is proposed for bridge decks based on cumulative damage theory.