Water Permeability In Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FPR)-wrapped Concrete

Abstract

A finite element analysis is performed using ANSYS software to analyze progress of water and its circulation in FRP wrapped concrete. This paper presents the modeling of water diffusion in FRP. Finite element programs do not usually employ issue permeability or diffusion. Therefore, diffusion of water in FRP is modeled by analogy with thermal conduction. A brief description of theoretical background is presented in the paper. The recommended FE modeling procedures are listed. Diffusion coefficient of Tyfo SCH 41S-1 obtained from an inspection report is used to analyze water permeably of FRP. Tyfo SCH 41S-1 is the most popular FRP used by Tx DOT in most of their bridge retrofit projects. Use of real material property with proper boundary condition has made this study more realistic. This paper explains how to model water diffusion in ANSYS software. Not only modeling, it also presents the results and conclusion.