Grant: Idea to Innovation

As part of this proposal, we aim in the short-term, small-span bridges market (bridge-span lower or equal to 10 m) for the main beams and pillars of bridges, as well as the market for multi story parking garages. This INNOV-Phase 1 project includes three parts: Part 1: Design, manufacture and testing of hybrid high performance prestressed beams. Part 2: Design and testing of large-scale high-performance hybrid columns. Part 3: Design, fabrication and evaluation of the structural performance of new connections beams / columns hybrid high performance. High performance hybrid structures are composed of an outer tube in fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) and reinforced concrete poured inside the FRP tube. The latter is used not only as permanent formwork for concrete protection against deicing salt, excess service-loads and cracking of concrete, but also as a structural reinforcement that can carry flexural and shear loads. The FRP outer tube provides a confinement of concrete to increase its compression resistance and prevent its premature cracking. It also greatly increases the ductility of concrete. A new version of the hybrid structures is the partially filled with reinforced concrete. An inner FRP tube is integrated inside the outer FRP tube to allow not only the creation of void and thus reducing the self-weight of the beam, but also it acts as a tensile reinforcement. This new technology of hybrid structures offers enhanced design flexibility based on the best contributions of physical and mechanical properties of each of the four components: outer tube, inner tube, concrete and steel tensile reinforcement.