ABSTRACT
Due to increase of traffic weight, there is a need to check if the bridges designed and built in the 1960s support current traffic load effects. In this context, some bridges in a ring road around Curitiba city in southern Brazil were revised. They were designed for 36-ton class and the requirement of the Brazilian design code raised to 45-ton. The research reported in this paper focus on the feasibility of carbon fiber reinforced polymers on the reinforcement of three highway bridges. The reinforcement design proved to be feasible in two bridges, with flexural and shear reinforcement in up to three layers of carbon fiber composites. However, in one of the bridges the reinforcement was technically infeasible, as it would require up to seven layers of carbon fiber composites. According to the manufacturers of the FRP it is not possible to apply more than four layers.
