UTA Structural Testing Support
CFRP specimen preparation for a university structural-testing program.
Delta Structural Technology completed CFRP application work supporting structural research at the University of Texas at Arlington. The laboratory program used concrete girders and small columns with different reinforcement arrangements.
- Market
- Education
- Services
- CFRP application to laboratory specimens
- Location
- Arlington, Texas
Project challenge
The research scope included three TxDOT Type 28 bulb-tee girders and six cylindrical concrete columns. Each specimen received a defined configuration so that the planned testing could examine different locations, layer counts or fiber orientations. Careful distinction between those configurations was central to preparing the specimens.
Project approach
The girder program specified one-layer and two-layer carbon reinforcement along the central bottom-flange region of two specimens. The third used paired U-wraps at each end. The columns were ten inches in diameter and four feet tall, with horizontal or forty-five-degree wrapping. Within each orientation group, the program varied the reinforcement from one to three layers.
Delivery and coordination
UTA’s civil-engineering research team requested Delta’s assistance with application of the CFRP. The specified material was twenty-four-inch-wide Sika 117C, with fabric and epoxy to be supplied for the laboratory work. The initial application schedule targeted early May 2015. Delta’s role focused on the specimen wrapping needed before the university’s tests.
Project significance
The UTA project demonstrates specialist installation support for structural research. Consistent execution of the specified wrapping patterns matters when specimens are intended for comparison. Delta contributed practical composite-application capability to a program examining reinforced concrete girders and columns under laboratory conditions.
