Flexural Strength and Ductility of CFRP Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Beams

Abstract

A total of fourteen beams, 100×150 mm in cross-section were tested in the laboratory over an effective span of 2000 mm. Two of them were used as reference beams. Twelve fiber reinforced concrete beams were provided with externally bonded CFRP laminates at the soffit of the beam. The variables considered included number of CFRP layers, yield strength of steel reinforcement (f y ) and steel reinforcement ratio (). All the beams were tested until failure. The test results showed that the ultimate load carrying capacity increased by 56% as average by increasing of the ratio of steel reinforcement from (0.0127 to 0.0324). The deflection ductility index DDI values averaged (1.80) and (1.75) for one-layer strengthened beams and two-layer ones, respectively. The corresponding energy ductility index EDI values averaged (1.75) and (1.73), respectively. The DDI and EDI for the control beams were 4.61 and 6.24, respectively. With the exception of the control beams, all of the beams exhibited poor ductility. Failures in all strengthened beams were accompanied by the release of large amounts of energy (known as elastic energy) relative to inelastic energy. Therefore, a reasonable factor of safety should be used in the design of FRP strengthened reinforced concrete members.