Flexural Behaviour of Full-scale Basalt FRP RC Beams – Experimental and Numerical Studies

Basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) bars are a relatively new material. Due to lack of experience in its use, behaviour of BFRP reinforced concrete (RC) members should be fully investigated. Furthermore, existing design codes for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) RC structures do not consider this type of reinforcement. This paper presents the results of an experimental and numerical study of the flexural behaviour of a series of simply supported BFRP RC beams under short-term static loads. The beams were varied in terms of the reinforcement ratio and the influence of this parameter was analysed. It had a significant effect on the stiffness and flexural strength of the beams. The members then were analyzed by the Finte Element Method. Good agreement between the results of the experimental and numerical studies were observed.