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Beam tests on 1.0 m long reirzjorced concrete beams with jibre reinforced plastic plates epoxy-bonded to their soffits are reported. In these tests. a simple parametric study has been carried out in which the plate area, plate aspect ratio, plate material and the method of anchoring the plate ends have been varied. The efects of these variables on overall behaviour are discussed. An iterative ana(ytica1 method which uses the principles of strain compatibility and equilibrium has been used $or predicting the strengthened beam response. The use of both a cracked and a partiallv cracked section including steel strain hardening have been considered in developing the model. The an(vtica1 and experitnental responses are compared and observations noted.

Experimental testing of 1·0 m long reinforced concrete beams with Jibre reinforced plastic plates, epoxy-bonded to their sofits has been carried out as detailed in an accompanying publication. Since collapse due to plate separation was found to be the dominant failure mechanism in these tests, an analytical procedure derived elsewhere has been used in this paper to try to identify the stress levels at the ends of the plate which are thought to be responsible for collapse, and to see the effect of the test parameters on these predicted stress values. This procedure, which has been verified experimentally for steel plated beams, is found to predict maximum shear and normal stress levels in excess of those thought to produce failure in applications in which steel is used as the plating medium.

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