Researches in Korea on FRP for Durable Concrete Structure

Abstract

This article reviews Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) repair/rehabilitation technology in Korea for durable concrete structures along with the history. In Korea, there are many old infrastructures, which were mostly constructed in 60’s through early 80’s. As their service period increases, there has been a high demand on the repair/rehabilitation of those old structures. Korean concrete communities have performed very intensive studies on the repair/rehabilitation methods using the FRP materials. The research topics included different fiber types, different FRP product types, and different purposes of the FRP repair/rehabilitation for concrete structures. Korean researchers evaluated the effectiveness of repair/rehabilitation method using the FRP in comparison to the methods using a steel plate. They, later on, proposed an optimized FRP repair/rehabilitation method for bi-directional bending structural members, such as a bridge deck plate. As the FRP repair/rehabilitation market grew fast, the construction procedures of the FRP repair/rehabilitation was standardized. Among this series of the FRP repair/rehabilitation researches, a study evaluated the fire resistance of the FRP and found that the FRP with basalt fiber had an excellent fire resistance. The state of the art technology in the FRP is a hybrid FRP material and a monitoring/sensing technology using the hybrid FRP material. Since the FRP technology becomes more complex and advanced, the civil engineering communities established Fiber Research Center at Hanyang University, Ansan, in 2003 in order to effectively “Koreanize” these the latest technologies. The center does not only incorporate industries and research institutes but incorporates also other civil engineering areas than structures, for example, geosynthesis and NDT. Throughout these active laboratory researches and field applications of the FRP, the concrete infrastructures in Korea should be able to extend the design life cycle at a sound structural condition.