Improving Seismic Resilience of Steel Bridges using Fiber Reinforced Polymers' Laminates

Improving Seismic Resilience of Steel Bridges using Fiber Reinforced Polymers' Laminates | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Improving Seismic Resilience of Steel Bridges using Fiber Reinforced Polymers' Laminates Mohamed Emam El-Kherbawy, Amr El gamal, Mohamed T. Elshazli, Yasser A. Khalifa This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5905096/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper investigates the seismic strengthening of aging composite steel bridges, particularly those in recently classified hazardous seismic regions in Egypt. Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) are proposed for reinforcing bridge steel girders due to their favourable strength-to-weight ratio, especially in the absence of specific guidelines in the Egyptian Code of Practice (ECP) for seismic retrofitting using FRP laminates. The preferred FRP types considered are GFRP, CFRP, and KFRP. Three strengthening scenarios were evaluated using finite element modelling (FEM): strengthening only the lower flanges of the main girders, strengthening only the webs, and strengthening both the lower flanges and webs. Seismic analysis was conducted using the time history analysis method with the El Centro earthquake time history applied. The study identified that twisting of the main girders is the predominant seismic behaviour, resulting in concentrated shear stresses near the supports, estimated to occur approximately (L/20) from each support. Strengthening the outer faces of the main girders’ lower flanges using GFRP laminates emerged as the optimal scenario due to their superior shear strength-to-cost ratio. Failure criteria analysis of GFRP laminates revealed Tsai-Hill criterion as critical, with a margin of safety (MOS) of 3.48, and matrix tension failure as the dominant failure mode for the flange laminates. FRP laminates offer a significant solution for enhancing the seismic resilience of aging steel bridges, owing to their lightweight nature, high strength-to-weight ratio, and ease of application. Civil Engineering Seismic Resilience Composite Bridges Time History Analysis Fiber Reinforced Polymers Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5905096","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":407197626,"identity":"d131a308-1d95-4326-ba92-3f19d1254369","order_by":0,"name":"Mohamed Emam El-Kherbawy","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohamed","middleName":"Emam","lastName":"El-Kherbawy","suffix":""},{"id":407197627,"identity":"d8243c65-20bf-4948-9f5e-4063fd81ec72","order_by":1,"name":"Amr El gamal","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Benha University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amr","middleName":"El","lastName":"gamal","suffix":""},{"id":407197628,"identity":"68e9d8eb-4ffc-41d6-9617-b2f556e49ae6","order_by":2,"name":"Mohamed T. 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Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) are proposed for reinforcing bridge steel girders due to their favourable strength-to-weight ratio, especially in the absence of specific guidelines in the Egyptian Code of Practice (ECP) for seismic retrofitting using FRP laminates. The preferred FRP types considered are GFRP, CFRP, and KFRP. Three strengthening scenarios were evaluated using finite element modelling (FEM): strengthening only the lower flanges of the main girders, strengthening only the webs, and strengthening both the lower flanges and webs. Seismic analysis was conducted using the time history analysis method with the El Centro earthquake time history applied. The study identified that twisting of the main girders is the predominant seismic behaviour, resulting in concentrated shear stresses near the supports, estimated to occur approximately (L/20) from each support. Strengthening the outer faces of the main girders\u0026rsquo; lower flanges using GFRP laminates emerged as the optimal scenario due to their superior shear strength-to-cost ratio. Failure criteria analysis of GFRP laminates revealed Tsai-Hill criterion as critical, with a margin of safety (MOS) of 3.48, and matrix tension failure as the dominant failure mode for the flange laminates. FRP laminates offer a significant solution for enhancing the seismic resilience of aging steel bridges, owing to their lightweight nature, high strength-to-weight ratio, and ease of application.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Improving Seismic Resilience of Steel Bridges using Fiber Reinforced Polymers' Laminates","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-01-29 04:20:40","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5905096/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3c926221-5df1-4844-914f-c7f5697f68d9","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 29th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":43423224,"name":"Civil Engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-01-29T04:20:40+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-01-29 04:20:40","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5905096","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5905096","identity":"rs-5905096","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}