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Durability/Environmental Evaluation of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) Reinforced Concrete Bridges View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Nabil F Grace on 11 September 2014.
The behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with The use of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) as strengthening
various types of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates is materials has been gaining the interest of many researchers for
presented in this paper. The experimental program included the last two decades. These materials are superior to steel when
strengthening and testing 14 simply supported rectangular it comes to comparing the resistance to electrochemical corro-
cross section beams. Each beam was initially loaded above its sion, strength to weight ratio, ease of handling, fatigue resis-
cracking load. The cracked beams were strengthened with FRP tance, and availability in any length or shape. The successful use
laminates and then tested until complete failure. Five available of FRP in aerospace, sports, recreation, and automobile indus-
strengthening systems of various types of carbon/glass fiber tries helped in decreasing FRP cost. This decrease in cost, com-
reinforced polymer (CFRP/GFRP) strengthening materials bined with the savings due to the elimination of future
were used. These materials included two types of CFRP sheets, maintenance and repair costs, makes the application of FRP
bi- and unidirectional GFRP sheets, and CFRP plates. The economically competitive with their steel counterparts.
effects of strengthening on deflection, failure load and failure In 1991, Saadatmanesh and Ehsani studied the strengthening
mode, strain, and beam ductility are discussed. In addition, the of beams using GFRP plates;2 they concluded that bonding
influence of different numbers of FRP layers, type of epoxy, and GFRP plates to the concrete reduced the crack size at all load
strengthening pattern on the behavior of beams was examined. levels. It was also indicated that using GFRP plates reduced the
The ratio of absorbed energy at failure to total energy, or ductility of the beams. In 1994, Alfarabi et al.3 tested concrete
energy ratio, was used as a measure of beam ductility. beams strengthened using different patterns of GFRP plates;
It is concluded that, in addition to the longitudinal layers, the they recommended the use of I-jackets to eliminate plate sepa-
fibers oriented in the vertical direction forming a U-shape ration and diagonal tension failure and to avoid a significant de-
around the beam cross section significantly reduce beam crease in ductility. In another study,4 they examined the
deflections and increase beam load carrying capacity. Further- feasibility of using different shapes of GFRP plates for shear
more, the presence of vertical FRP sheets along the entire span strengthening; plates, wings, and I-jacket patterns were tested.
length eliminates the potential for rupture of the longitudinal It was concluded that only the I-jacket shape converted the
sheets. The combination of vertical and horizontal sheets, mode of failure to flexural mode. The local shear failure of con-
together with a proper epoxy, can lead to a doubling of the ulti- crete beams strengthened with CFRP plates was studied recent-
mate load carrying capacity of the beam. However, all the ly by Saadatmanesh et al.5 and He.6 This failure occurs in the
strengthened beams experienced brittle failure, mandating a concrete between the FRP plate and the steel reinforcement.
higher factor of safety in design. Such failure was attributed to the shear and normal stress con-
centration at the plate ends and around the flexural cracks. Ta-
Keywords: ductility; reinforced concrete; strengthening. kahashi et al.7 examined the use of U-jacket CFRP sheets and
concluded that this pattern of strengthening is able to control the
INTRODUCTION progress of peeling and shift the mode of failure from peeling to
The urgent need to strengthen concrete structures is on the rupture of sheets. Swamy et al.8 studied the ductility of beams
rise. Various motivations lead to the increased demand for strengthened with FRP plates. It was concluded that the ductility
strengthening. Deterioration and aging of concrete structures of these beams can be improved using innovative design tech-
are not the only reasons for strengthening beams. Other reasons niques that minimize the relative bond slip between the plates
include upgrading design standards, committing mistakes in de- and the beam.
sign or construction, exposure to unpredicted loads such as
truck hits or powerful earthquakes, and changing the usage of
RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
the structure. Moreover, the ever-increasing truck loads are
sometimes beyond the design loads of most bridges in North This research work addresses two major concerns. The first is
America that were built after World War II. Since then, the av- to examine the effect of using available FRP strengthening sys-
erage service loads were increased by 40 percent. 1 The strength- tems with different patterns in strengthening reinforced con-
ening should ideally minimize the amount of material added to crete beams. The second is to evaluate the ductility of FRP
the structure to avoid increasing the dead load or decreasing the strengthened beams. The findings of this research can contrib-
clearance requirements. Along with that, strengthening should ute to the development of design recommendations and guide-
minimize disruption to the structure and its usage. Bonding steel lines currently undertaken by ACI Committee 440.
plates might be considered as a very convenient method for
strengthening indoor beams. However, the main disadvantage
ACI Structural Journal, V. 96, No. 5, September-October 1999.
of using steel plates for outdoor applications is corrosion of Received May 12, 1998, and reviewed under Institute publication policies. Copy-
steel. This corrosion is serious not because it reduces the plates’ right 1999, American Concrete Institute. All rights reserved, including the making
of copies unless permission is obtained from the copyright proprietors. Pertinent dis-
strength, but because it destroys the bonding between the plates cussion will be published in the July-August 2000 ACI Structural Journal if received
and the epoxy. by March 1, 2000.
Fig. 3—Response of Group 2 strengthened beams. Fig. 5—Response of Group 4 strengthened beams.
Fig. 6—Response of Group 5 strengthened beams. Fig. 7—Strain response of Group 5 beams during first cycle of
(a)
(e)
(b)
(f)
(c)
(d) (g)
Fig. 8—Failed sections of beams: (a) CF-I; (b) CFS-I; (c) CFS-II; (d) UG1-III; (e) UG2-III; (f) BG1-IV; and (g) BG2-IV.
(k)
(h)
(i)
(l)
(j) (m)
Fig. 8 (cont.)—Failed sections of beams: (h) BG3-IV; (i) BG2-IV-E4; (j) BG2-IV-E1; (k) CP1-V; (l) CP2-V; and (m) CP3-V.
tic energy to the total energy is considered to be the energy ratio. unloaded and reloaded before failure.
‡ These two beams may be excluded due to epoxy bond failure.
The total energy is the area under the load-deformation curve,
Fig. 9—Comparison between theoretical and experimental unloading slopes: (a) Beam BG1-
IV; (b) Beam CP1-V; and (c) Beam CFS-II.