New Developments in Underwater Pile Repair Using Fiber Reinforced Polymers

The development of resins that can cure in water has led to interest in the possible application of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) for the underwater repair of corrosion-damaged piles. Over the past four years, USF have completed four demonstration projects in which FRP was used to repair corroding piles. The FRP material was directly applied to the submerged, partially wet or dry concrete surface. Fiberglass and carbon were both used in conjunction with two types of resin – a water-activated urethane resin and an epoxy resin. In all the projects, selected piles were instrumented to allow evaluation of the post-wrap FRP corrosion mitigation performance. No particular problems were encountered in wrapping the partially submerged piles. Linear polarization measurements indicated lower corrosion rates in the FRP wrapped specimens in comparison to their unwrapped counterpart. This paper provides an overview of the studies and highlights some of the important lessons that were learned.

• Abstract

• Introduction

• Background

• Designing FRP Repairs

• FRP Materials

• Field Demonstration

• Conclusions

• Acknowledgements

• References