International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Current design methods for predicting deflections and crack widths at service load in concrete structures reinforced with steel bars may not be necessarily applicable in those reinforced with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bars. In this paper, methods for predicting deflections and crack widths and spacing of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforced concrete beams were proposed. In order to use the effective moment of inertia for concrete beams reinforced with FRP bars, the effect of reinforcement ratios and elastic modulus of the FRP reinforcement were incorporated in Branson’s equation. This paper also presents a new equation to predict crack width. Six concrete beams reinforced with different GFRP reinforcement ratios were tested. Deflections and crack widths were measured and compared with those obtained by the proposed models. The comparison between the experimental results and those predicted was in good agreement.

This paper summarizes research findings on the use of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets for shear strengthening of pretensioned AASHTO bridge girders. The research includes an experimental program conducted at the University of Manitoba using scale models of pretensioned concrete girders in composite action with the deck slab. Seven ten meter long beams were strengthened with three different types of CFRP sheets using ten different configurations and were tested to failure at each end. The paper describes the experimental program, test results, failure mechanisms and the effectiveness of each configuration of CFRP sheets. A rational model is introduced to define the contribution of the CFRP sheets to the shear resistance in addition to the contributions provided by the stirrups and the concrete for I-shaped pretensioned concrete members. Test results are used to verify the proposed model.

Upgrading often becomes a necessity due to changes in usage of buildings due to factors such as deterioration and aging, change in occupancy, or the need for installation of facilities such as air-conditioning, heating, escalators, elevators, additional skylights, or new façade structures. In a number of cases upgrading is related to changes which affect the load bearing components of the structure. Fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites provide an efficient means of both strengthening slabs for enhanced load carrying capacity and for strengthening slabs after installation of cut-outs. This paper reports on a series of tests conducted to assess the comparative efficiencies of a commercially available strip form and a fabric form of material vis-à-vis strengthening ability and ductility. It is shown that material tailoring can result in significant changes in efficiencies. The extension of this to the rehabilitation of cut-outs is also detailed and aspects of an on-going full-scale test program in that area are elucidated.

The effect of FRP material properties on the long-term deflection of concrete beams reinforced with FRP rods was investigated by the experiment of 17 beams reinforced by nine types of FRP rods and a beam reinforced by steel bars. Test results showed that the flexural stiffness of a cracked beam decreased rapidly with a reduction in tensile stiffness of the reinforcing rods. Compared to the short-term deflection of beams, the long-term deflection of the FRP reinforced concrete beams at one week after loading increased on average by 17 percent, and 57 percent at 10 months. The material properties of FRP rods had a great effect on the long-term deflection of beams. The long-term deflection increase of beams with GFRP was the smallest among all of the tested beams, and oppositely, the deflection increase of beams with AFRP was greater than the average. The rate of increase in deflection of the beams reinforced with braided rods was about 10 percent smaller than that of beams with spiral rods. Contrasting, the rate of deflection increase of beams with ribbed rods was about 10 percent greater than that of beams with spiral rods.

A study was undertaken to examine the general behaviour of reinforced concrete beams confined with carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates subjected to accelerated rebar corrosion. Eight small-scale RC beam specimens, 1200 mm long with cross-sectional area of 100 mm by 150 mm, were constructed. Five specimens were strengthened with CFRP laminates using three different strengthening schemes. The tensile reinforcement, 2-10M bars, of six specimens was corroded to 10% mass loss by means of an impressed current. Strain gauges were placed on the CFRP laminates to monitor and quantify tensile strains induced by the corrosion process. The CFRP laminates successfully confined the corrosion cracking, and total expansion of the laminate exhibited a fairly linear and continuous increase throughout the corrosion process.