Numerical evaluation of shear strengthening performance of CFRP sheets/strips and sprayed epoxy coating repair systems

A numerical study is conducted to evaluate the shear strengthening performance of two repair systems: CFRP sheets/strips and a sprayed epoxy coating. Micromechanical constitutive models for the CFRP sheets/strips and sprayed FRP coating proposed by Liang et al. [Liang Z, Lee HK, Suaris W. Micromechanics-based constitutive modeling for unidirectional laminated composites. Int J Solids Struct 2006;43:5674–89] and Lee et al. [Lee HK, Avila G, Montanez C. Numerical study on retrofit and strengthening performance of sprayed fiber-reinforced polymer. Eng Struct 2005;27:1476–87] and Lee and Simunovic [Lee HK, Simunovic S. Modeling of progressive damage in aligned and randomly oriented discontinuous fiber polymer matrix composites. Composites: Part B 2000;31:77–86] in conjunction with damage models, are implemented into the finite element code ABAQUS to solve boundary value problems. Using the implemented computational model, numerical simulations of four-point bending tests on concrete beams repaired with the repair systems are conducted to quantify their strengthening abilities. The numerical tests yield load–deflection curves from which the shear strengthening performance of the repair systems is evaluated. Furthermore, the present prediction is compared with available experimental data to assess the accuracy of the proposed computational model.