Shear behavior of large-scale concrete beams strengthened with Fibre Reinforced Polymer, FRP, sheets

Abstract

Many studies conducted on the use of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) sheets for shear strengthening have been completed on beams that are small in relation to the effective bond length of the FRP. This study focuses on the use of FRP sheets for large-scale concrete members. Two series of large scale concrete beams were strengthened in shear to develop a better understanding of the behaviour of FRP shear strengthening on large specimens and to develop a means of predicting the shear capacity for all sizes of members. The first series of three specimens were obtained from a full sized I-section prestressed concrete bridge girder. One of these specimens was tested as a control, with the remaining two strengthened for shear with different configurations of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) sheets. To develop a better understanding of bond behaviour of large-scale specimens, three reinforced concrete T-section beams were fabricated with a web height that was larger than those found in the literature. One of these beams was strengthened in shear using Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) sheets and two others were strengthened using CFRP sheets. These beams were tested under static loading conditions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)