Flexural Behavior of Concrete Beam Strengthened by Near-Surface Mounted CFRP Reinforcement Using Equivalent Section Model

Abstract

FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) has found wide applications as an alternative to steel rebar not only for the repair and strengthening of existing structures but also for the erection of new structures. Near-surface mounted (NSM) strengthening was introduced as an alternative of externally bonded reinforcement (EBR) but this method also experiences early bond failure, which stresses the importance of predicting accurately the bond failure behavior in order to evaluate precisely the performance of NSM reinforcement. This study proposes the equivalent section model assuming monolithic behavior of the filler and CFRP reinforcement. This equivalent section model enables establishing a bond failure model applicable independently of the sectional shape of the CFRP reinforcement. This so-derived bond failure model is then validated experimentally by means of beams flexure-strengthened by NSM CFRP reinforcements with various cross-sections. Finally, analytical analysis applying the bond failure model considering the equivalent section and defined failure criteria is performed. The results show the accuracy of the prediction of the failure mode as well as the accurate prediction of the experimental results regardless of the sectional shape of the CFRP reinforcement.