Combined effect of sustained load and freeze–thaw cycles on one-way concrete slabs reinforced with glass fibre – reinforced polymer

Abstract

Flexural behaviour of reinforced-concrete slabs has been widely investigated to characterize properties and behaviour of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) materials as reinforcement for concrete structures. However, the short- and long-term thermal effects on FRP bars owing to the significant difference between the bars’ coefficients of thermal expansion in the transverse and longitudinal directions are still to be evaluated and may affect the bond properties and the concrete cover thickness after multiple exposures to freeze–thaw cycles. This paper presents the thermostructural behaviour of one-way concrete slabs reinforced with glass FRP (GFRP) that have previously been subjected to mechanical loads of 20% and 30% of the ultimate flexural capacity of reinforced-concrete slabs, simultaneously with short freeze–thaw cycles. Series tests were conducted on FRP-reinforced concrete slabs 500 mm wide, 195–215 mm thick, and 2500 mm long. The thermal cycles were varied from −30 to 60 °C. Four-point bending tests were conducted up to failure of the slabs. The results show that the thermomechanical load applied before bending tests increases the performance of reinforced-concrete slabs, particularly the concrete shear capacity. The deflection predicted from CSA code and ACI guidelines are very close to those obtained from experimental tests; however, the CSA code overestimates the deflection at the service load. The applied thermal cycles have no big influence on the behaviour before shear failure of concrete slabs reinforced with GFRP bars.