Durable, fire resistant, energy absorbing and cost-effective strengthening systems for structural joints and members

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9611667-B2
Application number	US-201615147124-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 5, 2016
Priority date	May 5, 2015
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

The disclosed technology is a system and a method for strengthening one or more joints of a structure having a plurality of structural members forming a vacuous area at each joint. The method includes computing limit load bearing capacity for the structure, at a joint, securing a filler module to the joint, at the vacuous area, the filler module having a plurality of surfaces so that when secured within the vacuous area, some of the surfaces are tangential to the members of the structure at its joint, and one or more of the surfaces are non-tangential to the members of the structure, and applying at least one layer of continuous fiber reinforced polymer wrap about the filler module and the members at the joint. The filler module of the disclosed technology is designed and configured to dissipate energy from a load applied to the structure, and at least doubling the load bearing capacity for the structure, at the joint.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for strengthening one or more joints of a structure comprising a plurality of structural members forming a vacuous area at each joint, the method comprising the steps of:
a. computing limit load bearing capacity for the structure, at a joint,
b. securing a filler module to the joint, at the vacuous area, the filler module having a plurality of surfaces so that when secured within the vacuous area, some of the surfaces are tangential to the members of the structure at its joint, and one or more of the surfaces are non-tangential to the members of the structure, and
c. applying at least one layer of continuous fiber reinforced polymer wrap about the filler module and the members at the joint;

wherein the filler module is designed and configured to dissipate energy from a load applied to the structure, and increasing the load bearing capacity for the structure, at the joint.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises securing a plurality of dowel bars to the members, near the joint, and securing the filler module to the dowel bars.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fiber reinforced polymer wrap is applied in two or more layers about the filler module and the members, wherein each layer comprises a continuous sheet of fiber reinforced polymer wrap.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one non-tangential surface is concave.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the member comprises a material have a certain stiffness, and the filler module comprises a material having a stiffness of ±10% of the certain stiffness of the member.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filler module has a throat and legs extending from the throat to extremities, and further wherein the filler module is defined by a decreasing thickness from its throat to the extremities of the legs.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filler module comprises material having 2%-10% of critical damping.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filler module comprises one or more syntactic foams made from a polymer resin and glass beads comprising 30-35% resin and 65-70% glass beads.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises applying an outer layer of nano-carbon composite sheeting about the joint, the module and the continuous fiber reinforced polymer wrap.

Assignees

• Univ West Virginia

Inventors

• Gangarao Hota V S
• Majjigapu Praveen K R

Classifications

• E01D22/00

  Methods or apparatus for repairing or strengthening existing bridges {(electrochemical desalination or re-alkalisation C04B41/00); Methods or apparatus for dismantling bridges} · CPC title

• E04G23/0218 Primary

  Increasing or restoring the load-bearing capacity of building construction elements (E04G23/0203 and E04G23/0266 take precedence) · CPC title

• E04G23/02

  Repairing, e.g. filling cracks; Restoring; Altering; Enlarging {(compositions of filling material C04B; strengthening, widening, repairing of bridges E01D22/00; drying damp layers by temporary mechanical ventilation E04B1/7092)} · CPC title

• E04C5/07

  Reinforcing elements of material other than metal, e.g. of glass, of plastics, or not exclusively made of metal (metal elements with non-structural coatings E04C5/01) · CPC title

• E01D19/00

  Structural or constructional details of bridges · CPC title