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1 PDH · about 60 minutes · Course no. BR-R01 · Instructor: Michael Craig, PE
Michael Craig, PE is Senior Vice President and Southeast Director at Strinteg Corporation, leading bridge inspection and structural engineering across eight states and Puerto Rico. In 27+ years he has inspected over 4,000 structures and completed 3,000+ load ratings and 160+ load tests. He has managed repair and preservation design for complex bridges, including cable-stayed bridges. He holds PE licenses in twelve states, DC and Puerto Rico, SPRAT Level 1, and FAA Part 107 credentials.
Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are now a routine tool for strengthening and repairing concrete bridge members. Thin carbon or glass laminates bonded to a girder soffit, U-wraps on a web, near-surface-mounted bars in grooves, and wraps on columns and piles can add flexural, shear or axial capacity in hours of work, with little added weight and no corrosion of the strengthening material itself. They also fail in ways steel and concrete do not, mostly by debonding at the ends of the laminate or across cracks, and their performance depends almost entirely on the condition of the concrete they are glued to. This course explains FRP materials, the strengthening methods state DOTs have used, the failure modes that govern design, the questions to ask before strengthening, and the installation and inspection controls that decide whether the design capacity is ever achieved. It draws on FHWA's Report on Techniques for Bridge Strengthening (FHWA-HIF-18-041), the front matter, contents and introductory chapter of ACI PRC-440.2-23, the FHWA/NHI Underwater Bridge Repair, Rehabilitation, and Countermeasures reference manual (FHWA-NHI-10-029), and Chapter 7 of the Florida DOT Bridge Maintenance Course Series Reference Manual. The numerical design provisions of ACI 440.2 and the AASHTO guide specifications are not reproduced here; use the current documents for design.