Repair of Submerged Concrete Piles With FRP Composites
Repair of Submerged Concrete Piles With FRP Composites
Repair of Submerged Concrete Piles With FRP Composites
FRP composites
Master’s Thesis in the Master’s Programme Structural Engineering
JOHAN RÖÖS
AUGUST UDDMYR
Cover:
The first and third picture from the left are on specimens before subjected to accelerated
long-term durability tests. The second and fourth pictures are the same specimens after
the testing.
Chalmers Reproservice Göteborg, Sweden, 2017
I
Repair of submerged concrete piles with FRP composites
Master’s thesis in the Master’s Programme Structural Engineering and Building
Technology
JOHAN RÖÖS
AUGUST UDDMYR
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Division of Structural Engineering
Chalmers University of Technology
ABSTRACT
Deterioration of concrete piles in marine structures due to harsh environmental
conditions has highlighted the need of continuous maintenance and renewal of such
structures. To repair these structures a relatively new and emerging repair method is to
wrap the piles with fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) materials. The lightweight, high
strength and flexibility of the FRP material provide for a quick and effective repair. The
idea is that the FRP material with low permeability and good resistance to harsh
environments will provide the pile with a protective layer and thus increase the
durability of the pile.
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the feasibility of the FRP repair method for
submerged concrete piles. The methodology used in the thesis is to perform: a literature
review, interviews with experts in the field, accelerated long-term durability tests
focusing on corrosion and a case study to compare costs between an FRP repair and a
conventional pile jacket repair method.
From the interviews, conclusion could be made that there is a need and interest for new
sound, quick and durable repair methods. The literature review showed that FRP
reparations mostly have been made in the splash zone to increase the durability and thus
enhance the service life of the pile. It also showed that wrapping concrete with glass
fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) or carbon fibre reinforce polymer (CFRP) reduces the
corrosion rate equally.
The results from the experiment showed that FRP wrapping of reinforced concrete
specimens reduces the corrosion rate, crack propagation and crack bandwidths. In the
case study, the FRP repair method showed to be cost effective in comparison to a
traditional concrete pile jacket reparation.
Key words: fibre reinforced polymer, FRP, repair, submerged, concrete, piles,
wrapping, marine, corrosion, underwater, freeze and thaw
I
Reparation av undervattenspelare i betong med FRP komposit
Examensarbete inom masterprogrammet Konstruktionsteknik och Byggnadsteknik
JOHAN RÖÖS
AUGUST UDDMYR
Institutionen för Bygg- och Miljöteknik
Avdelningen för konstruktionsteknik
Chalmers tekniska högskola
SAMMANFATTNING
Nedbrytning av betongpålar i marina konstruktioner som ett resultat av den hårda
miljön har understrukit vikten av kontinuerligt underhåll av dessa konstruktioner. En
ny metod för att reparera dessa konstruktioner är att linda pålar med fiberförstärkt plast
(FRP). FRP materialets låga vikt, höga styrka och flexibilitet möjliggör för en snabb
och effektiv reparation. Idén är att det täta FRP materialet tillsammans med dess goda
egenskaper att motstå tuffa miljöer ska förse pålen med ett skyddande lager och därmed
öka pålens beständighet.
Från intervjuerna kan slutsatsen dras att det finns ett behov och intresse för nya säkra,
snabba och hållbara reparationsmetoder. Litteraturstudien visade att FRP reparationer
mestadels har genomförts i skvalpzonen för att öka hållbarheten och därigenom
förlänga pelarnas livslängd. Den visade också att lindning av betong med
glasfiberförstärkt plast eller kolfiberförstärkt plast minskar korrosionshastigheten lika
mycket.
Resultatet från experimentet har påvisat att FRP lindning av armerad betong minskar
korrosionshastigheten, sprickspridningen och sprickbredden. I fallstudien så påvisades
det att FRP lindningen är en kostnadseffektiv reparationsmetod i jämförelse med en
traditionell betong pågjutning.
II
Contents
ABSTRACT I
SAMMANFATTNING II
CONTENTS III
PREFACE VI
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Aim and objectives 2
1.3 Research approach 2
1.4 Limitations 2
6 CASE STUDY 63
6.1 Introduction 63
6.2 Conditions 63
6.3 Cost analysis 63
8 REFERENCES 71
The experiment in the study was carried out in the laboratory of the Department of
Structural Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology. The help from Carlos
Berrocal in the planning of the accelerated corrosion test by an impressed current,
Mohsen Heshmati in programming the climate chamber and Sebastian Almfeldt in the
laboratory work were of great appreciation.
This master thesis had not been possible without the technical knowledge, enthusiasm,
help and guidance from our supervisor Valbona Mara at ÅF infrastructure and examiner
Reza Haghani.
The modern part of the Port of Gothenburg is mainly built in concrete resting on piles
constructed in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s1. In the 50’s and 60’s due to lack of knowledge
about chloride ingress and its effect on reinforcement steel, concrete structures were
built with the belief that they were everlasting. However, in the 70’s concrete structures
were designed for a lifespan of 50 years. Along with poor maintenance until 2002 this
have created a significant need of repair of submerged concrete piles. The maintenance
budget for the Port of Gothenburg has increased since 2002 from 15 million to 200-250
million a year1 which has created the urge for new durable and efficient repair methods.
1
Stig Östfjord Port of Gothenburg, interview 30 Mars 2017
1.4 Limitations
The investigation is limited to the repair of existing submerged concrete piles with FRP
composites bonded with adhesives directly to the concrete. The causes of degradation
in Swedish climate and repair methods carried out underwater is studied.
2
Robert Klein ÅF infrastructure, interview 9 February 2017
In the port, ice layers can be pushed above and below each other by stream and ships.
The ice layers settle upon each other and form hard pressed ice blocks. The thrust from
ships can then cause these ice blocks to be slung into the piles causing damage upon
collision2.
2.2.6 Scour
Deepening of the sea bottom by the removal of material can cause reduction of bearing
capacity for piles. Scour can influence bridge and berth piles as an effect of the massive
water streams caused by ships and the removal of sea bottom material can also be an
effect of active dredging1. As a result, the effective length of the piles increase and thus
also the buckling length. This leads to a decrease in bearing capacity and can require
strengthening or retrofit of the piles.
From an interview with Stig Östfjord (Port of Gothenburg, 30 Mars 2017) conclusions
can be made that the most common degradation causes of submerged piles in the Port
of Gothenburg are due to installation damages and ettringite (sulphate attack).
Installation damages are due to the applied stroke when the piles are driven and
ettringite are due to heat hardening during the production of the piles.
To detect damaged piles and decide if, how and when they should be repaired, main
inspections are made every sixth year in the port1. The inspector evaluates the damage
on the piles and an engineer decides how severe the damages is to the construction and
if measures should be taken for repair. The result is analysed together with the project
manager and the administrator and a ten-year maintenance strategy is carried out. For
a repair to take place, the port of Gothenburg requires a minimum service life of 15-20
years of the repair. To achieve a reasonable solution the engineer designs the repair for
a theoretical service life of at least 40 years.
Most methods for pile reparation that can be applied above water can also be used under
water (Browne et al. 2010). However, the most efficient method above water may not
be the most efficient in a marine environment. A detailed planning of the work is of
great importance for an effective repair of submerged piles3. The marine environment
and the berth platform prevents easy access to the area in need of reparation. For the
repair work to take place, there are two alternatives, either the water must be excluded
from the area in need of repair or the work must be performed underwater.
One method to get access to the damaged area of the pile is to exclude the water by
installing cofferdams. There are cofferdams adjusted for pile repairs that consist of two
steel box halves that are put together from each side of the pile. Soft rubber is used to
seal the box and the water is pumped out. Thus, the repair can be performed under dry
conditions which increase the work rate. However, the temporary work of installing the
cofferdam and maintaining a dry environment is time-consuming and often results in
increased repair costs (Browne et al. 2010).
To perform repair work at wet conditions commercial divers are needed. They can start
the repair work more quickly as no installation of cofferdams is required. Divers also
provides high flexibility and they can move between different areas of the substructure
with ease. For the repair of berth and pier substructures, divers may provide the only
access method (McLeish 1994). Divers can perform complex repair work with
underwater adjusted equipment and they are most effective when the work is well
planned with easy to use components3 such as large bolts and pinholes.
3
Robert Klein ÅF infrastructure, interview 17 January 2017
Pile replacement is a labour intensive repair method (Browne et al. 2010). Lack of space
for supplemental piles may be a problem in a berth substructure with a high number of
structural members, for example a high number of piles.
Pile jackets can also be installed before degradation has occurred in a preventative
work. This is currently made in the port of Gothenburg where old piles without ice
protection are equipped with pile jackets1. These jackets are applied in the splash zone
and the concrete is cast in stay in place stainless steel forms which provide an extra
layer of abrasion resistance from drift ice.
Figure 10: Cylindrical forms in steel for submerged concrete casting, (Robert Klein)
Pile jackets increase the size of the piles and thereby the self-weight and the effective
area for current and wave loads also increases and the risk of buckling enhances. The
main drawback with underwater concreting is to often fail in achieving the best result
of the cast, especially in jacketing were thin layers of concrete are applied under
pressure1. The jacketing requires a high experience and good workmanship from the
divers and according to Thoresen (2014) lack of skill and expertise is one of the most
common causes of damages during underwater casting of concrete. In the port of
Gothenburg low downtime of the berths is of the essence, this creates a need for several
diving crews working simultaneously on major reparations. Here the urge for short
stoppage can compromise the quality of the repair due to lack of enough skilled and
experienced diving teams. Installing the formwork around piles in a berth structure can
a) b)
Figure 11: a) Before surface preparation, b) after surface preparation
4
Martin Lindgren, Dawab Sverige AB, interview 21 April 2017
Divers carry out the casting of concrete underwater with the help of a hydraulic pump
which creates a pressure to transport the concrete through a pipe into a form (Browne
et al. 2010). The concrete used for underwater repairs is often low permeable and frost
resistant. The form is filled from the bottom and upwards to prevent washout as the
water floats upon the concrete and are pushed out from the form at the top.
Figure 12: Main inspection every 6:th year. Inspection year one, strategy year two and repair year three.
The most common repair method is pile jacketing which is installed by a process that
requires high experience and skilled workmanship. It is hard to guarantee a high quality
of submerged concreting and the work is often carried out under tight time schedules
to minimise the stoppage of the berth. In Figure 14 the advantages and disadvantages
for pile jackets are shown.
The lack of skill for an underwater casting of concrete in thin layers has led to the urge
of new repairing methods that are more efficient and easier to install. Restoring and
strengthening piles by underwater concreting is a time-consuming technique and since
the berths downtime is of essence the need of new repair methods that are sound, quick
and durable has emerged.
4.1.1 Fibres
The properties of the FRP material are dependent on both the fibres and the resin. The
fibres can either be in different forms, such as discontinuous or continuous fibres
weaved randomly or in specific directions to achieve the desired properties. In structural
applications continuous fibres are mostly used (Au 2001). The most common types of
fibres used in the construction industry for FRP composites are glass, carbon and
aramid fibres.
Epoxy and polyester polymers are the most common used thermosetting resin matrices
due to their good chemical resistance and good adhesion abilities. The polyester resin
shows great mechanical properties and good environmental durability and is the most
commonly used matrix because it is less expensive than epoxy (Berver et al. 2001).
However, the adhesion for polyester to carbon and aramid is poor and the shrinkage
during curing is significant. Thus polyester is not as widely used in the construction
industry (Au 2001). Epoxy is superior to polyester regarding chemical and moisture
resistance. Epoxy resins show excellent mechanical properties and provide better
adhesion to more kinds of fibres than polyester and also good adhesion to substrates.
Therefore, epoxy is the most commonly used resin for repairing civil structures, and
the most expensive one.
Advancements in resin development have brought resins that can cure under water.
These resins are refined in the sense that the amines, the hardener, are aromatic and
water repellent, so that they react with the base and not water molecules 5 in contrastto
conventional resins, where the hardener is based on aliphatic amines that are water-
soluble. An example of such a resin is Fyfe’s Tyfo SW-1 underwater epoxy. There
are also resins that are water-activated and cure upon contact with water, such as the
proprietary urethane resin system in the Aquawrap by Air Logistics which cures
through a chemical reaction with water.
Compared with concrete jacketing, which is the most common repair method for
submerged concrete piles, there are several advantages of using FRP composites
instead. The composites high strength to weight ratio, which is several times greater
than for steel, and stiffness to weight ratio, lead to that repair and strengthening of
structures can be made without any substantial addition of weight or sectional area
5
Jonny Augustsson ([email protected]) (8 May 2017) Fråga till NM Lab. Personal mail to Johan
Röös ([email protected])
FRP is a dense and durable material and has excellent resistance to harsh environments
such as in marine conditions. By wrapping concrete piles with FRP materials the
migration of water, oxygen and ions into the concrete can be reduced and thus the
corrosion process and the formation of ettringite can be impeded (Wootton, Spainhour,
and Yazdani 2003). FRP wraps also provide confinement which will keep the concrete
from spalling due to the expansive forces caused by corrosion or ettringite.
Confinement of the piles also increases the axial strength and ductility due to increased
lateral pressure.
FRP materials can cure rapidly, which makes them beneficial for emergency repairs
where fast restoration is of the essence. Even though the initial costs of FRP materials
are high, the quick and easy installation means lower construction costs and minimal
time for the structure to be closed. Thus, the total cost of repairing a structure with FRP
may be lower than for other methods.
The resistance of FRP composites to weathering is highly reliant on the resin matrix.
The most notable cause of degradation of resins is ultraviolet radiation as it causes
crosslinking degradation of the resin (Au 2001). This results in chalking of the resin
and making it more brittle.
High temperature variations increase the water absorption for FRP composites and
moisture leads to bond failure between the fibres and the matrix (Harichandran and
Imad Baiyasi 2000). Glass fibres are liable to moisture attack as they swell when
absorbing moisture causing expansive internal forces in the composite and moisture
also causes strength reduction of the fibres.
In this study, eight piles were selected, two for control and six for a demonstration of
the FRP pile repair method. The selected piles were equipped with two probes each,
see Figure 15, for comparing the corrosion rate by measuring the galvanic current
between the two sensors.
Figure 15: FRP wrapping area and probe placement (Sen and Mullins 2007a)
Two repair system were used, a pre-preg and a wet layup system. The pre-preg system,
which is called Aquawrap® and developed by Airlogistic, uses a water-activated resin
pre-impregnated in the FRP material, in this case both carbon fibre reinforced polymer
(CFRP) and glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP). The wet layup system, developed
by Fyfe, consists of Tyfo SEH-51A glass fibre weave and Tyfo SW-1 underwater
epoxy. The design of the wrap was made from an estimated capacity loss of 20 % due
Figure 16: Interaction diagram for corrosion repair of piles (Sen and Mullins 2007a)
For accessing the piles, a lightweight four-parted scaffolding system with cut-outs for
the piles was built and installed. The scaffolding was suspended from the pile cap, see
Figure 17 at a height that allowed the wrap to be applied from the pile cap and 1,84 m
down.
With the access system in place, surface preparation was performed before wrapping.
Marine growth was removed with a scrapper and projecting parts of the concrete were
removed with a hammer and a chisel. Because the cross-sections of the piles were
rectangular, all four corners were ground to a 19 mm radius with an underwater
pneumatic grinder to avoid stress concentrations in the wrap. Voids in the surface of
the piles were filled with a quick-setting hydraulic cement to provide a smooth surface.
Just before wrapping the final preparation was to pressure wash the surface to remove
dust, debris and marine growth.
The pre-preg system was pre-impregnated with resin at the factory and arrived at the
work site in hermetically sealed pouches. Before the bags were opened Aquawrap®
base primer 4 was applied by hand on the prepared surface. The carbon fibre was used
in a longitudinal layer of uni-directional fibre, see Figure 18a, followed by two
transverse layers of bi-directional fibres, see Figure 18b. The transverse layers were
spirally wrapped around the pile without overlap. For the glass fibre wrap the same
process as the carbon fibre was used and repeated because of the double number of
layers. To consolidate the wrap and provide a better finish both the CFRP and GFRP
system was applied with a glass fibre veil that was wrapped with a 50 mm overlap. For
maintaining the wrap in place while curing, a plastic shrink film was used. The whole
wrapping procedure was made in less than one hour a pile. This was within the working
time of the Aquawrap® which according to (“Aquawrap®” 2017) is one hour. After a
day of curing the plastic film were removed and the wrap was painted with base primer
4 for protection against UV radiation.
Figure 19: On site saturation of fibreglass fabric (Sen and Mullins 2007a)
The galvanic current was measured during 160 days and due to that the currents were
very small and inconclusive no conclusions could be made about the effect wrapping
of piles have on corrosion rate (Sen and Mullins 2004).
Two years after the wrapping the bond strength was tested with a pull-out test (Sen and
Mullins 2007a). The results showed that the bond was poor with inter-layer failure
between the FRP layers for the pre-preg system and epoxy failure between the FRP and
concrete for the wet-layup. It also showed that the pre-preg system performed better in
the dry region and that the wet layup performed better in the wet region.
Rajan and Mullins conclude that the FRP repair system is viable for repairing of
corroded piles. The pre-preg system was easier to use than the wet layup, but the wet
layup provided greater flexibility than the pre-preg system. They also report that the
utilised scaffolding system in the field demonstration was inexpensive and quickly
fabricated.
Four of the 350x350 mm prestressed piles were selected for the study, two as control
piles without wrap, one with glass fibre and one with carbon fibre with the Aquawrap
system. As in (Sen and Mullins 2007a) the pre-preg system arrived at the work site pre-
impregnated with resin in hermetically sealed pouches and with the same material
properties as for the Aquawrap® in Table 2. The wrapping area of the pile was from
230 mm above the high-water line to 230 mm below the low water line, see Figure 20.
For measuring the corrosion rate, a probe system was installed before the application
of the wrap. The system is shown in Figure 21, and it measures the change in corrosion
potential due to the application of an incremental current or voltage. From the change
in potential, the corrosion rate can be determined by linear polarisation.
Figure 20: FRP wrapping are of pile Figure 21: Setup for measuring the corrosion rate
(Mullins et al. 2005)
The designing of the wrap was made in two steps. First, a strain compatibility analysis
was carried out for restoring a 20% strain loss. Second, this layup was checked if it
could withstand post repair expansion due to corrosion.
Before the application of the wrap, surface preparation was made by the same
procedures as in (Sen and Mullins 2007a). But because the piles were in shallow waters,
the work could be executed standing in the water without a scaffolding system or divers.
The application of the glass fibre was made with the same procedure as for carbon fibre
except for that the number of layers was doubled.
After 413 days, the study showed that the corrosion rate of the wrapped specimens was
lower than for the control samples. The results for carbon fibre and glass fibre were
comparable. Mullins et al. (2005) conclude that underwater wrapping is a viable system.
The study also showed that the bond between the wet concrete and the FRP was poor.
However, laboratory tests showed that the bond strength was sufficient for the FRP
system to restore the capacity of the pile to the original.
The chosen repair system was a pre-preg system consisting of three layers of bi-
directional glass fibre and one layer of a veil. In the case of rectangular piles as in this
study, an epoxy layer must be applied between the concrete and the wrap. If the piles
instead are circular the bond strength provided by the pre-impregnated resin is adequate
on its own. The system had no volatile organic compound and was approved by NSF
International, which is a public health and safety organisation, as environmentally
friendly.
This system was applied from 350 mm below the low water line and up to the pile cap
resulting in an area along 2.44 m and 1.83 m of the first respectively the second pile.
The installation was made by first preparing the concrete surface. For the first pile, this
was made by thoroughly cleaning and patching the surface while the second pile only
was cleaned and marginally patched. When the surface preparation for the piles had
been performed, an underwater epoxy was applied to the concrete surface, see Figure
22a. The wrap was then applied using 200 mm wide rolls starting from the top of the
pile. One turn was wrapped around the top then the wrapping continued spirally
downwards without overlap. At the bottom one turn of wrapping was made before
a)
b)
c) d)
Figure 22: Installation of Aquawrap repair system, a) epoxy applied by hand above water, b) epoxy applied by
divers below water, c) divers wrapping bi-directional GFRP, d) divers wrapping the plastic stretch film6
6
Franz Worth ([email protected]) (11 May 2017) Report of splash zone repair – Master thesis.
Personal mail to August Uddmyr ([email protected])
Figure 23: Damaged pile at Chesapeake Bay bridge (Neptune Research Inc 2012)
The piles were repaired with Neptune Research Incorporate (NRI) product Titan-218
carbon fibre with Titan saturant epoxy. The application was made by pressure washing
the surface, resurface the concrete with a cementitious concrete patch, applying the
epoxy to the surface and impregnating the carbon fibre, see Figure 24a. The carbon
fibre was bi-directional and wrapped spirally in two layers from 1.8 m above to 1.8 m
below the waterline, see Figure 24b. During curing the wrap was secured with a plastic
shrink wrap, see Figure 24c.
a) b) c)
Figure 24: a) saturating carbon fibre with epoxy, b) application of the CFRP to the pile, c) applying plastic
shrink wrap to keep the wrap in place during curing (Neptune Research Inc 2012)
Repairing with the Titan system was according to Neptune Research Inc (2012) an
effective repair method adding structural integrity to the damaged piles. It was made
with minimal resources without disturbing the traffic.
The reparation was made in 2007 and five years later, 2012, QuakeWrap revisit the
bridge. They observed marine growth and some paint loss in the submerged region, but
no damages to the FRP system, see Figure 25.
a) b)
Figure 25: CFRP repair of piles, a) directly after installation, b) revisit five years later (QuakeWrap 2012)
The application of the system was made by divers that had been certified on the system
under training in a controlled environment1. It was carried out on three “out-of-action”
piles that could be removed and sent for analysis at RISE which is a technical research
institute in Sweden. Testing was made on strength, permeability and soaking leaching
under accelerated long-term testing to determine the long-time behaviour. The result of
the pile cap system with Syntho-glass was an increase of seven years in the service life
of the piles. This was regarded as an insufficient increase of the service life and the Port
of Gothenburg are currently investigating two other alternatives both involving Syntho-
glass. The first option is to wrap the first layer with a thick stretch film followed by
Syntho-glass and the second is to wrap the pile with Denso tape and Syntho-glass1.
Abrasion and physical damage can cause cracks and fracture in the wraps making them
ineffective as it leads to easier access for moisture. Exposure of the FRP wrap to
ultraviolet radiation acts as a synergy effect as it causes embrittlement of the resin and
thus lower crack resistance upon impact.
The surface preparations of piles to be repaired with FRP wraps are of great importance
to achieve an efficient repair with a good bond. Depending on the particular case this
could be a limitation of the FRP repair method as proper grinding and smoothening of
the surface can be a time-consuming procedure.
As the resin protects the fibres, it is important to provide the resin with protection.
Therefore, to prohibit degradation of the composite, there is a need for protective
coatings.
The research showed that FRP wrapped specimens, both lightweight and normal
concrete, had better protection against corrosion than unwrapped specimens, see Figure
26. Samples with two layer wraps performed better than samples with one layer wraps.
Overall wrapped specimens had longer life span and less reinforcement bar mass loss
than those who were unwrapped, see Figure 27 and Figure 28.
Figure 30: Cell voltage for specimens wrapped after 2 days with glass (G-2) and carbon (C-2) FRP (Gadve et al.
2009)
Figure 32: Cell voltage for specimens wrapped after 8 days with glass (G-8) and carbon (C-8) FRP (Gadve et al.
2009)
The wrapping was made over a length of 910 mm at the centre of the specimen,
extending 175 mm above and below the chloride contaminated area. Sixteen specimens
were wrapped with 1-4 layers of FRP, eight with CFRP and eight with GFRP. The
accelerated long-term durability testing was made during three years of tidal
simulations in a 3.5% salt water solution. Twenty specimens were placed in an outdoor
tank and two of the control specimens were placed in an indoor tank to provide a
controlled environment. The tide in the tanks were changed every 6 hours where the
water level, from the bottom, changed between 800 mm at high tide to 350 mm at low
tide. The corrosion rate was measured with linear polarisation during the test. The result
showed that the average corrosion rate of the control specimens was 0.018 mm/year
while the corrosion rate of the wrapped specimens was 0.0055 mm/year. Both the linear
polarisation and gravimetric testing showed that CFRP and GFRP were equally
effective in reducing corrosion. The result of the gravimetric testing, see Table 3, also
showed that two layers of FRP were optimal. Another discovery made was that 30 wires
in the six unwrapped specimens had breakage due to localised corrosion while only one
wire had breakage among the sixteen wrapped specimens.
The bond between the FRP and the concrete was tested after the tidal simulations. This
was made with pull-out tests on four CFRP specimens and four GFRP specimens with
one, two, three and four FRP layers. The test was performed in three different zones,
the dry zone, tidal zone and the submerged zone. At the dry and tidal zones, most bond
failures occurred in the concrete. In the submerged zone, most bond failure occurred in
the epoxy. However, the average bond for the CFRP, 1.8-2.0 MPa, and the GFRP, 1.8-
2.1 MPa were similar and largely unaffected by exposure. The number of layers did not
show any difference in bond strength indicating that the interlayer bond between the
FRP layers was good.
a) b)
Figure 34: Schematics of the two systems, a) pressure bagging, b) Vacuum bagging (Winters et al. 2008)
For increasing the FRP-concrete bond, a base resin coating was applied before
wrapping the pre-preg system. Two different resins were tested in this experiment,
Aquawrap Base Primer 4 and Bio-dur 563. Both were applied at two surfaces each of
the four piles The first pile (A4) to be tested with the vacuum system encountered
problems to seal the vacuum bag due to cracks below and above the wrapping area.
This was solved by filling the cracks with epoxy and vacuum was obtained 45 minutes
after wrapping For pile A2 and A3, the base resin was applied beyond the wrapping
area for sealing of the cracks. Pile A3 was wrapped before the applied base resin had
cured and the uncured resin had difficulties in sealing the cracks and providing an
airtight layer. The base resin on pile A2 was allowed to cure for 24 hours before
wrapping. However, before installation, the bond between the base primer and the
concrete was inspected and it was found that the bond was inadequate. Thus, no
wrapping was made on pile A2. The difficulties to achieve an airtight layer for the
vacuum bagging in the experiment shows that this approach can be problematic for
field repairs. However, the testing with the pressure bagging was made without any
significant difficulties.
The bond was evaluated with the results from pull-out tests with and Elcometer 106
adhesion tester by ASTM D 4541. For the pre-preg system, the result showed that
pressure bagging increased the bond strength, from 0.26 MPa to 1.17 MPa, in the wet
region and, from 0.94 MPa to 1.57 MPa, in the dry region. The result from the wet
layup was mixed with a marginal reduction, from 2.01 MPa to 1.95 MPa, in bond
strength in the dry region and an increase, from 1.65 MPa to 1.77 MPa, in bond strength
in the wet region.
Figure 35: Percentage of satisfactory pull-out results using 1.38 MPa cut off (Winters et al. 2008)
The testing was made on seventeen pre-stressed piles with the dimensions and splash
zone set-up as in (Suh et al. 2007), see Figure 33. Before repair, the specimens were
subjected to a constant current of current 110 mA during 125-days to achieve a 20%
metal loss. For confining the corrosion to the splash zone, a soaker hose-sponge was
used to keep this area moist.
After 125-days the specimens were repaired, three with the “full repair”, eleven with
the “epoxy injection repair” and the three remaining was left for control. The wrapping
was made in one to three layers of the splash zone or the whole pile, see Table 5 and
Figure 36. For some of the specimens, the top side of the piles was sealed, see Table 5,
to prevent chloride ingress from above.
For testing of the effectiveness of the repair, the specimens were placed in a tank with
a 3% chloride solution see Figure 36. The water temperature was maintained at 60C
and the tide was changed every six hours. During the incoming tide, hot salt water was
sprayed on the piles to simulating water splash above the wrap.
After 2.3 years and 1,700 tidal cycles, the metal loss was measured by gravimetric
testing and the result is shown in Table 5. The average increase in metal loss for the
unwrapped specimens were 60% compared to 1.8% for the wrap. From this, they
concluded that FRP wraps effectively slows down the corrosion rate. The research also
showed that the results of the “full repair” and “epoxy injection repair” were
comparable and that two layers of wrap are the most efficient number for slowing down
corrosion.
Since FRP composites are lightweight and flexible, they provide a quick and easy
installation and a more beneficial work environment for the workers. This may offset
the high initial cost of the material and lead to a more cost-effective repair method
compared to the ones used today. Because FRP composites don’t corrode and are a low
permeable material, it acts as a protective layer impeding chemical degradation and
may also lead to a more durable solution.
To achieve an effective result with FRP repair the surface preparation is important to
get an adequate bond between the FRP and substrate. It is also important to provide the
FRP wrap with a protective coating to prevent degradation of the composite. Because
of FRP’s high strength to weight ratio repair can be made slender and with the proper
choice of protective coating, it can be made indistinguishable from unrepaired piles.
Upon review, epoxy is the favourable resin to use in the composite since it is superior
to polyester in the considered application together with either glass or carbon fibres.
Advantages and disadvantages of the FRP repair method are summarised Figure 37.
From the review of the performed experimental tests in the literature, it can be
concluded that CFRP and GFRP wraps are equally effective in reducing the corrosion
rate of reinforced concrete. It is also found that two layers of wrap are the most effective
number of layers for reducing the corrosion rate. Wraps with a better bond between the
FRP and concrete proved to be more efficient in reducing the corrosion rate which
further indicates the importance of achieving a good bond to get an effective repair. The
review shows that the bond can be enhanced by pressure bagging the wrap while it
cures. It can also be concluded that the bond between the FRP and the concrete is
deteriorated by moisture as the failure, according to performed pull-out test, is in the
epoxy for the submerged zone while in the concrete for the dry and tidal zones.
The objectives of the experiment are to investigate the effect of wrapping reinforced
concrete with FRP on the corrosion rate, to study what effect confinement of the wrap
has on the crack propagation, as well as to investigate the durability of the FRP/concrete
bond in a marine environment.
Henceforth, the preparation of specimens is described and the test scheme with set up
for the different tests are explained followed by results and conclusions.
5.2 Specimens
For the experiment 15 specimens were prepared, nine for the accelerated corrosion test
and six for the freeze/thaw test. The specimens were cylindrical “lollipop” specimens
with the reinforcement placed in the centre and protruding out from the top surface. The
performed literature review showed that this is a common type of sample for accelerated
corrosion testing. The specimens had a diameter of 100 mm and a height of 180 mm
with a reinforcement bar of 16 mm in diameter.
5.2.1 Concrete
Two 25 kg premixed bags of Weber fine concrete C30/37 were mixed with 5 kg of
water resulting in a water/cement ratio of 0.51. When the concrete and the water had
been mixed, a superplasticizer was added until the concrete achieved a satisfying
workability. Properties of the concrete can be seen in Table 6.
Sandblasted area
Figure 38: First three centimetres to the left is the sandblasted area.
After the sandblasting, the reinforcement bars were weighed and the individual weight
of the bars was recorded. In preparation for the casting, the sandblasted side of the
reinforcement bars was attached to wooden boards of 10 mm thickness through
predrilled holes, see Figure 39. The free length of the bars was 170 mm.
Before casting, the forms were greased with form oil to ease the demoulding. The forms
were then partially filled with concrete and the prepared reinforcement bars were placed
in the centre of the cylinder, held in place by the wooden boards resting on the top edges
of the form, see Figure 41.
This setup resulted in concrete specimens with the height of 180 mm with a concrete
cover for the reinforcement bars of 30 mm at the bottom and 42 mm on the side, see
Figure 42.
5.2.5.1 Fibres
The used material in the tests was a 0°/90° bi-directional glass fibre weave with a
density of 1273 g/m2. It was delivered in a 10 m long and 1.270 m wide roll and the
first step was to cut the glass fibre in sheets with dimensions of 180x350 mm and
180x380 mm for the first respectively second layer, Figure 44.
5.2.5.2 Resin
A two-component epoxy resin consisting of 0.5 kg NM 275A laminate and 0.275 kg
NM 275B hardening agent was used in the test. This epoxy was chosen because its
ability to be applied to a moist surface and that it is very water resistant. By mixing the
two-components the epoxy started to cure. The work had then to be completed during
the pot time of forty minutes.
As a security measure, the work involving epoxy and curing was made in a fume hood,
see Figure 46, to lead away by-products from the curing of the epoxy which can cause
allergic reactions.
Group A-C were subjected to accelerated corrosion for the entire test period of two
months. The specimens in group A were wrapped from the very beginning, the
specimens in group C were wrapped after 1 month and group B were control specimens
without any wrap.
Group D and E were subjected to accelerated corrosion until the reinforced concrete
specimens had developed cracks due to corrosion, which occurred after a month. Then
group D was wrapped and inserted in a climate chamber together with the specimens
without wrap in control group E. These two groups were subjected to freeze/thaw cycles
during the remaining time of the test period, see Figure 47.
For the accelerated corrosion test, it was decided to subject the specimens to a constant
current so that the corrosion rate for the different specimens would be the same to
evaluate if the confinement provided by the wraps had any effect on the cracking of the
concrete. For maintaining the natural corrosion process, the applied current density
should be below 350 µA/cm2 (Berrocal et al. 2017). The constant current of 17 mA was
applied and was calculated according to Appendix A to provide a corrosion rate of 10%
of the diameter of the reinforcement bar. However, after two weeks of accelerated
corrosion there was no evidence of crack initiation in the specimens and therefore it
was decided to increase the current to 19.5 mA to increase the rate of corrosion.
5.4.1 Set up
All the specimens were placed in one bucket each and sealed to the bottom with a layer
of silicone to prevent chloride penetration from the bottom, see Figure 49. To achieve
the electrochemical cell a copper mesh was wrapped around each specimen and kept in
place with rubber bands. Wires were attached to the reinforcement bar, acting as the
anode, and to the copper mesh, acting as the cathode, for connecting the specimens in
series. The cell was then completed by filling the bucket with 3.5% salt solution, acting
as the electrolyte, so that the water level covered two-thirds of the specimen, see Figure
50.
The electric wiring was then made in a series circuit, one for each specimen group A,
B and C, to ensure the same amount of current through each specimen. Figure 51 shows
a schematic drawing of one circuit.
Cycle
30 100
20
Temperature [°C]
80
10
60
RH [%]
0
0 2 2 3 5 6 67 8 8 99 11 12 40
-10
-20 20
-30 0
Time [h]
Temperature RH
Figure 52: Climate cycle inside the climate chamber
During the experiment the cracks were measured continuously with the card shown in
Figure 53 for comparison of the crack propagations.
After the experiment had been completed, the FRP wraps were carefully removed so
that the crack propagation in the concrete could be recorded and compared between the
different test groups.
To further investigate the effect of wrapping concrete with FRP on the corrosion rate
the reinforcement bars from all specimens in the experiment were extracted from the
concrete, sandblasted to remove all rust and weighed to record the reinforcement bar
mass loss.
5.7 Results
5.7.1 Reinforcement bar mass loss
Figure 55 displays the initial weight compared to the final weight of the reinforcement
bars for all specimens included in the experimental study. It is from this figure clear
that groups B and C suffer the most steel mass loss.
290
285
A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 E3
Specimens
Figure 54: Comparison of the start and end weight of reinforcement bars for the different specimens
Table 7: Reinforcement bar mass loss for specimens in the accelerated corrosion test
Reinforcement bar Start weight [g] End weight [g] Mass loss [%]
A1 317.47 314.87 0.82
A2 317.04 315.1 0.61
A3 314.65 313 0.52
B1 316.14 303.35 4.05
B2 313.5 300.32 4.20
B3 317.75 303.62 4.45
C1 316.59 300.47 5.09
C2 317.17 301.78 4.85
C3 314.35 298.65 4.99
5,00%
4,00%
3,00%
2,00%
1,00%
0,00%
Group A Group B Group C
Figure 55: Average reinforcement bar mass loss and spread per group in the accelerated corrosion test
Table 8: Reinforcement bar mass loss for specimens in the freeze/thaw test
Reinforcement bar Start weight [g] End weight [g] Mass loss [%]
D1 315.63 312.44 1.01
D2 311.54 308.11 1.10
D3 311.52 308.35 1.02
E1 313.88 310.9 0.95
E2 317.33 314.11 1.01
E3 316.54 313.23 1.05
1,00%
0,80%
0,60%
0,40%
0,20%
0,00%
Group D Group E
Figure 56: Average reinforcement bar mass loss and spread per group in the freeze/thaw test
The bandwidth of the largest cracks at the different surfaces is shown in Table 10. It
can be seen that the specimens in group B had the largest crack bandwidths and that the
specimens in group A had the smallest crack bandwidths.
Table 10: Crack bandwidth for specimens in the accelerated corrosion test
d) e) f)
Figure 57: Crack propagation, a) specimen A2, b) Crack along the full height of specimen B3, c) Crack partly
along the height of specimen C2, d) No cracks at the bottom of specimen A1, e) Crack at bottom of specimen
B2, f) Crack at bottom of specimen C3
The bandwidth of the largest cracks at the different surfaces is shown in Table 12. The
crack bandwidths were in general small for all the specimens. It can be seen that the
specimens in group E had larger crack bandwidths than the specimens in group D.
Crack
c) d)
Figure 58: Crack propagation, a) Crack partly along the height of specimen D1, b) Crack along the full height
of specimen E2, c) No crack at the bottom of specimen D1, d) Crack at the bottom of specimen E2
Resistance of specimens
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
Group A
R [Ω]
1000
Group B
800
Group C
600
400
200
0
21-apr 24-apr 28-apr 02-maj 05-maj 08-maj 13-maj 15-maj 19-maj 22-maj
Figure 59: Current resistance o for groups A, B and C
5.7.4 Bond
The inter-laminar bond between the GFRP layers was stronger than the bond between
the GFRP and the concrete. The specimens in group A had the strongest concrete/GFRP
bond followed by the specimens in group D and the specimens in group C had the
weakest concrete/GFRP bond. For the specimens in group A the bond failure occurred
in the concrete, see Figure 60, in group D failure could be seen in both concrete and
epoxy, see Figure 61, while the failure in group C mostly occurred in the epoxy, see
Figure 62. It was also noted that the concrete/GFRP bond was weak at rust deposits as
can be seen in Figure 62. Bubbles that could be seen in the GFRP were a result of poor
wrapping and no new or enlargement of the existing bubbles could be observed during
the experiment.
a) b)
Figure 61: Bond failure in concrete and epoxy, a) specimen D1, b) inside of wrap D1
By reviewing the reinforcement bar mass loss no obvious conclusion can be made about
the effect of wrapping the reinforced concrete with GFRP. For the specimens in the
accelerated corrosion test there is only a marginal difference between the different
groups except for group A. This can be explained by that the specimens were subjected
to the same amount of current and therefore the same corrosion rate and that the
specimens in group A were subjected to current flow for a much shorter time than the
other groups. However, there is a slight difference between group B and C where group
C has a higher corrosion rate even though it has been concluded that wrapping with
GFRP should reduce the corrosion rate. This is a result of that the power sources used
in the test had different setting accuracy leading to a slightly higher current for the
specimens in group C. For the specimens in the freeze/thaw test, there is no difference
in corrosion rate. This could be a result of the limited time for the experiment as
corrosion is a slow process and may show a different result if the test was run for a
longer period. The corrosion may also have been accelerated if the specimens were
subjected to higher temperatures during the freeze/thaw test but it was decided to
simulate Swedish climate and therefore the upper limited was set to 20°C.
From studying the cracks in the specimens, it can be concluded that wrapping the
concrete with GFRP creates confinement of the concrete and reduces the crack
propagation. Considering the accelerated corrosion test, there were only indications of
micro cracks in the specimens of group A because of the rust deposits on the concrete
surface, but no cracks with a bandwidth over 0.1 mm were found. This is reasonable
concerning their corrosion rate. The specimens in group B had more and greater cracks
than the specimens in group C. For group B, the cracks larger than 0.1 mm bandwidth
ran through the whole specimens from the reinforcement bar to the edge of the concrete
at the top, down and through the bottom. There were also transverse cracks in these
specimens. While for group C, the cracks larger than 0.1 mm bandwidth ran through
the bottom and progressed partly and longitudinally up along the sides of the specimens.
For these specimens, there were no cracks at the top surface except for specimen C1,
this crack was however not connected with any crack along the side of the specimen,
and no transverse cracks were found. The cracks were overall larger for the specimens
in group B than for the specimens in group C when comparing the different sides of the
specimens. The largest crack bandwidth for group B was 0.9 mm while the largest for
group C was 0.3 mm. However, the cracks are not measured with precise instruments
so these numbers should be taken more as an indication of the crack propagation. Even
though the specimens in group C had somewhat higher corrosion rate than the
specimens in group B, the cracks are fewer and smaller for the specimens in group C
which indicate that the confinement of the concrete provided by GFRP wraps reduces
the crack propagation. Similar comparisons can be made for the specimens in the
freeze/thaw test where the wrapped specimens of group D both had less and smaller
cracks compared to the unwrapped specimens in group E. Neither of the specimens had
cracks with a bandwidth larger than 0.1 mm on the top surface but all the specimens in
group E had transverse cracks and specimens E1 and E2 had longitudinal cracks along
the full height of the specimens which progressed through the bottom. While the
The results of the bond strength were achieved by comparing the difficulties to remove
the GFRP wrap with manual labour. This gives no exact result, but an indication of the
effects a marine environment has on the bond strength. The bond was strongest for the
specimens in group A and the failure mode was discovered in the concrete and thus no
extensive deterioration of the adhesive layer was found. The bond was weakest for the
specimens in group C and the failure mode for the specimens was discovered in the
epoxy. The adhesive layer for the specimens in group C was the most deteriorated as a
result of being submerged, leading to access of more moisture behind the wrap, and a
higher corrosion rate, resulting in more rust deposits between the wrap and the concrete.
The failure mode for the specimens in group D was discovered in both the epoxy and
the concrete. The bond for the specimens in group D was stronger than for group C but
weaker than for group A. It can therefore be concluded that the concrete/GFRP bond
was better when the GFRP was applied to a dry and intact surface as it was harder to
remove the wrap for group A, which was wrapped from the very beginning, than for
groups C and D, which were wrapped after one month of accelerated corrosion. As well
as the concrete/GFRP bond is deteriorated by moisture and rust deposits as group C had
weaker bond than group D.
Finally, it can be concluded from the results of the experiment that GFRP wrapping of
reinforced concrete reduce the corrosion rate due to that wrapped specimens had higher
current resistance than unwrapped and that it is more effective when wrapped on intact
concrete. The GFRP wraps provide confinement which impedes the crack propagation
of the concrete. The concrete/GFRP bond is stronger when wrapped on a clean and
intact concrete surface and that the bond is deteriorated by moisture ingress and rust
deposits.
6.2 Conditions
The submerged concrete pile selected for the case study was part of a larger repair
project of 70 piles located in Skarvikshamnen berth site 510-511. This is part of
Gothenburg’s energy harbour where ships with a maximum length of 250 m and a
maximum depth of 12.5 m can dock (“Port of Gothenburg” 2017). The cross-section of
the piles supporting these berth structures are 450x450 mm and the repair should be
made along 10 m of the selected pile7, see Figure 64 and Appendix C, to decrease the
ingress of sulphates and chlorides.
Table 13 shows required times for different working moments estimated with inquiries
from Robert Klein, Engineer Diver at ÅF Infrastructure AB.
7
Stig Östfjord ([email protected]) (8 May 2017) Examensarbete Personal mail to August
Uddmyr ([email protected])
The FRP repair is made with the Aquawrap pre-preg system by Air Logistics where
both glass and carbon fibres are considered. For repair, the idea is to wrap the pile with
two layers of bi-directional fibre along the whole height of 10 m, as for the concrete
jacket. The work is performed by hand by divers. The procedures for installing the FRP
system are the same for both glass and carbon and are as follows:
1. Pressure wash the pile surface to remove marine growth and loose concrete.
2. Apply cement filler to fill voids and to create a smooth surface of the pile.
3. Apply base primer to the pile surface simultaneously as wrapping the pile
spirally with two layers of bi-directional fibre with overlap.
4. Apply a plastic stretch film over the wrap to hold it in place while curing.
5. After one day of curing, remove the plastic stretch film and paint the wrap with
the base primer.
Table 15 shows detailed information about the costs for material and required work for
installing the intended FRP system. The information is provided by Franz Worth6 and
by Robert Klein, Engineer Diver at ÅF Infrastructure AB.
In these five cases costs emerge at different years, because money is worth more as
asset today than in the future (Hjelm and Karlsson 2014) the net present value (NPV)
is calculated. This is made according to equation 1 with a 2 % discount rate.
𝐿
𝐶𝑛
𝑁𝑃𝑉 = ∑ (Eq. 1)
(1 + 𝑟)𝑛
𝑛=0
there
6.4 Result
Costs of the different cases of FRP repair is calculated in Appendix D and the result is
shown in Table 16. All assumed FRP repair cases, except for case 3 with the CFRP
repair, are less expensive than the traditional pile jacket repair. The CFRP repair ranges
from 11% more expensive to 34% less expensive than the pile jacket repair. The GFRP
repair are 12% to 47% less expensive than the pile jacket repair. In Figure 65 and Figure
66 the NPV is shown with the year the cost emerges. The time estimations of the FRP
repair resulted in an installation time of 4 days while the time installing the pile jacket
were made during 5 days.
Case 3
150000 Case 4
Case 5
kr
100000
50000
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Year
250000 GFRP
Pile
jacket
Case 1
200000 Case 2
Case 3
150000 Case 4
Kr
Case 5
100000
50000
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Year
Figure 66: NPV of GFRP repairs at different years
The costs of the performed pile jacket are from a repair project regarding seventy piles,
a repair of only one pile would lead to a higher cost for the pile jacket than used in the
studied case. This further shows that the FRP repair method is a competitive alternative.
A faster repair method, like FRP repair compared to concrete pile jacket, is not only
economically beneficial with regard to fewer man hours but also in the sense of
attendant costs in the view of stoppage of the berth.
Considering a larger repair project, like the one in this case study, with a lot of piles it
can be hard and time-consuming to reach the piles and install the unwieldy formwork.
Here, the FRP system may offer a better solution because of its lightweight and that it
is easier to handle.
Analysis of the costs for the systems is made for cases were the FRP repair method is
assumed to have the same or shorter service life than the pile jacket. This assumption
could be seen as conservative since the reason for investigating the FRP system is the
belief that it is more efficient in increasing the durability of submerged piles.
To get the FRP system to correspond with the pile jacket which is installed down to
solid clay there are some uncertainties of how to solve the detail at the bottom for the
FRP system. One can either dredge and wrap the whole way down and then fill back
up with clay or, install a bottom plug similar to the one for the pile jacket. Depending
on how to solve this it may amount in extra costs and longer installation time. However,
this is not considered in the cost analysis.
It is concluded from the results of the experiment that GFRP wrapping of reinforced
concrete reduce the corrosion rate due to that wrapped specimens had higher current
resistance than unwrapped and that it is more effective when wrapped on healthy
concrete. The GFRP wraps provide confinement which impedes the crack propagation
of the concrete. The concrete/GFRP bond is stronger when wrapped on a clean and
intact concrete surface and that the bond is deteriorated by moisture ingress and rust
deposits.
According to the performed case study in this report it can be concluded that the FRP
repair system is a competitive alternative to repairs made with pile jackets in concrete
when considering costs.
Based on the result and experience gained during this project a summary of why to use,
challenges with and recommendations for further studies of the FRP repair method is
summarised below.
Reasons to use:
• Durable material.
• Lightweight material.
• Flexible material that can fit any existing shape of a pile.
• Provides for quick and easy installation without the use of heavy machinery.
• Offers confinement of the concrete and reduces crack propagation and prevents
spalling.
• Reduces corrosion rate of reinforced concrete.
• Economically viable in comparison to repair with concrete jacket.
Challenges:
• Development/introduction of underwater epoxy that is environmentally
approved in Sweden.
• Develop installation procedure to achieve an efficient repair with a good bond.
• How to provide the FRP wrap with ice/abrasion protection.
• How to inspect and detect degradation behind the FRP wrap
μA
i current density
2
cm
x 0.01mm
π ϕ
2 4
x root 0.9 ( r x) π x 4.103 10
2
m decrease in 60 days
4
365 1 mm
CR x 2.496
60 yr yr
Voltage:
n 15 15 n 9 9 n 3 3 number of speceimens in serie
R 700Ω Assume one specimen gives 700Ω resistance
U9 n 9 R I 105.589 V
U3 n 3 R I 35.196 V
Adjustment of current:
μA
i 250 10/4, increased current density to speed up the
2 corrosion
cm
250 215.117
Inc 0.162 An increase with 16.2%
215.117
Reinforcement bar A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3
6/3-2017 Start weight [g] 317,47 317,04 314,65 316,14 313,5 317,75
22/5-2017 End weight [g] 314,87 315,1 313 303,35 300,32 303,62
Metal loss [g] 2,6 1,94 1,65 12,79 13,18 14,13
Metal loss [%] 0,82% 0,61% 0,52% 4,05% 4,20% 4,45%
Average metal loss [%] 0,65% 4,23%
5,00%
4,00%
3,00%
2,00%
1,00%
0,00%
A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 E3
5,00%
4,00%
Percent
3,00%
2,00%
1,00%
0,00%
Specimens
Steel weight - Start/End
320
315
310
305
Grams
290
285
A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 E3
Specimens
5,00% 1,10%
4,00% 1,05%
3,00% 1,00%
2,00% 0,95%
1,00% 0,90%
0,00%
0,85%
A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 E3
D1 D2 D3 E1 E2 E3
Accelerated corrosion
ReinforcementStart
bar weight [g]
End weight [g] Mass loss [%] Average mass loss per group
A1 317,47 314,87 0,82% Group A - Wrapped from the start 0,65%
A2 317,04 315,1 0,61% Group B - Unwrapped 4,23%
A3 314,65 313 0,52% Group C - Wrapped after 1 month 4,98%
B1 316,14 303,35 4,05%
B2 313,5 300,32 4,20% Spread
B3 317,75 303,62 4,45% plus minus
C1 316,59 300,47 5,09% Group A 0,17% 0,13%
C2 317,17 301,78 4,85% Group B 0,21% 0,19%
C3 314,35 298,65 4,99% Group C 0,11% 0,13%
Standard error
Group A 0,087%
Group B 0,117%
Average steel mass loss per group Group C 0,070%
6,00%
5,00%
4,00%
3,00%
2,00%
1,00%
0,00%
Group A - Wrapped from the Group B - Unwrapped Group C - Wrapped after 1
start month
Freeze/thaw test
ReinforcementStart
bar weight [g]
End weight [g] Mass loss[%] Average mass loss per group
D1 315,63 312,44 1,01% Group D - Wrapped after 1 month 1,04%
D2 311,54 308,11 1,10% Group E - Unwrapped 1,00%
D3 311,52 308,35 1,02%
E1 313,88 310,9 0,95% Spread
E2 317,33 314,11 1,01% plus minus
E3 316,54 313,23 1,05% Group D 0,06% 0,03%
Group E 0,04% 0,05%
0,80%
0,60%
0,40%
0,20%
0,00%
Group D - Wrapped after 1 month Group E - Unwrapped
Appendix C
Case study – Drawings of performed pile jacket repair
Appendix D
Case study - Cost calculation of FRP repair
Case study - Cost of FRP repair
Pile
Depth [m] 0,45
Width [m] 0,45
Height [m] 10
Surface area [m2] 18
Filler
Thickness [m] 0,005 Assumed thickness of filler
Volume [m3] 0,09
Time estimations of different procedurs that need to be made for underwater repair of piles. The estimations are made with help of Robert
Klein, engineer diver at ÅF infrastructure and the report “Underwater FRP Pile Wrap of the Friendship Trails Bridge.” Tampa, FL:
Departement of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida by Sen, Rajan, and Gray Mullins. 2004.
Costs
The cost of the carbonfibre, glassfibre(G-05) and Base primer 4 (BP-4) were provided by mail from Franz Worth at airlog.
Franz Worth ([email protected]) (11 May 2017) Report of splash zone repair – Master thesis. Personal mail to August Uddmyr
([email protected])
The setup of the repair was made out from the litterature review and resuktet in two layers of wrap and two layers of BP-4, one as
primer and one as protective coating.
The cost of the divers was assumed with the help of Robert Klein, engineer diver at ÅF infrastructure
Costs
Divers [kr/h] 2000 Price from Robert Klein (1 diving crew incluing 3 divers and equipment)
Filler [kr/m3] 21780
Airlog Costs provided by Franz Worth at airlog for a carbon and a glasfiber (G-05) aquawrap
Carbon [$/pile] 6236 2 layers of wrap
G-05 [$/pile] 3350 2 layer of wrap
BP-4 [$/sqft] 4,11 Base primer 4, primer and protective coating
Bp-4 [$/m^2] 44,24
Currency 2017-05-15 Currency collected at forex.se at the 2017-05-15
kr/USD 9,53
The maintenance cost are calculated for different cases in the sensitivity analysis
Maintenance [kr/pile]
Re-wrap 1 layer carbon 84892 Includes: 1 layer Carbon wrap, 2 layers BP-4, cleaning surface, wrapping
Re-wrap 1 layer glas 71140 Includes: 1 layer G-05 wrap, 2 layers BP-4, cleaning surface, wrapping
Re-coarting 1 layer 31589 Includes: 1 layer BP-4 primer, cleaning surface, re-coating
Comparsion between FRP system and pile jacket
The FRP repair is compared with a pile jacket repair with the design life of 40 years. To compare the
costs today with future costs, net present value are used.
Five different cases with the FRP repair have also been carried out and the cases are as follows:
Case 1: Original repair with service life of 40 years.
Case 2: FRP repair with dubble wrapping time, service life 40 years.
Case 3: Two FRP repairs with a service life of 20 years each.
Case 4: FRP repair with a service life of 30 years, re-wrap 1 layer carbon/G-05 to increase service life with 10 years.
Case 5: FRP repair with re-coating every 10:th year to fufill 40 years of service life
NPV [kr/pile]
Year: 0 10 10 20 20 30 30 40 40
Pile jacket 200000 200000 200000 200000 200000 200000 200000 200000 200000
Carbon 132567 132567 132567 132567 132567 132567 132567 132567 132567 Case 1
148567 148567 148567 148567 148567 148567 148567 148567 148567 Case 2
132567 132567 132567 132567 221781 221781 221781 221781 221781 Case 3
132567 132567 132567 132567 132567 132567 179434 179434 179434 Case 4
132567 132567 158480,9 158480,9 179739 179739 197179 197179 197179 Case 5
G-05 105063 105063 105063 105063 105063 105063 105063 105063 105063 Case 1
121063 121063 121063 121063 121063 121063 121063 121063 121063 Case 2
105063 105063 105063 105063 175768 175768 175768 175768 175768 Case 3
105063 105063 105063 105063 105063 105063 144338 144338 144338 Case 4
105063 105063 130977 130977 152236 152236 169675 169675 169675 Case 5
Carbon
250000
Pile jacket
Case 1
200000
Case 2
Case 3
150000
Case 4
kr
Case 5
100000
50000
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Year
G-05
250000
Pile jacket
Case 1
200000
Case 2
Case 3
150000
Case 4
Kr
Case 5
100000
50000
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Year
Calculate how much cheaper the most and least expensive FRP systems are compared to the pile jacket
The carbon fibre ranges between 11% more expensive to 34% less expensive than the pile jacket.
The glass fibre (G-05) ranges betenn 12% to 47% less expensive.