Influence of GFRP skin reinforcement on the crack evolution in RC ties

Experimental tests on reinforced concrete ties with skin reinforcement made of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (GFRP) mesh are presented in the paper. The study is a part of a wider research, currently going on at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, aimed at verifying possible solutions for limiting the crack opening, mainly in peculiar typologies of reinforced concrete structures, such as pipes or tunnel segments. Six 150 × 150 × 15000 mm3 specimens, with a steel Ø24 bar embedded in central position, were cast and tested under pure tension. In four ties a skin GFRP reinforcement was added, in order to analyse its influence on the crack spacing and width. Finally the application of a simple analytical model, suitably adapted for the analysed cases, shows the possibility of forecasting and simulating the crack patterns experimentally found.