Title: Enhancing FRP-to-concrete Bond Behavior by Epoxy Ribs

Author(s): Cheng Jiang, Baolin Wan and John Omboko

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 327

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 25.1-25.14

Keywords: concrete; FRP; bond; grooving; epoxy rib; bond-slip relationship

DOI: 10.14359/51713346

Date: 11/1/2018

Abstract:
The bond between external bonding (EB) of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials to concrete is the weakest link in the strengthened concrete flexural members. There are three mechanisms to transfer the interfacial shear between FRP and the concrete substrate, i.e., adhesion, interlocking and friction. This paper proposes a new approach by grooving on the concrete surface before applying epoxy to make epoxy ribs to increase interlocking. An experimental program was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed epoxy ribs. Six grooves perpendicular to the fiber direction were cut on the bonding surface of the concrete blocks. The grooves were filled by wax in the unfilled specimens and with epoxy primer in the epoxy filled specimens before CFRP plate was installed. The experimental results show that epoxy-filled grooves can significantly improve the bond between FRP and concrete.