Effectiveness of Surface Preparation on the Capacity of Plated Reinforced Concrete Beams

The quality of the surface preparation established was measured based on the flexural performance of the externally strengthened steel-concrete beams. A total of 9, 250 × 450 × 3600 mm reinforced concrete beams were prepared, strengthened with glued steel plates on their soffits, and tested under two-point static loading until failure. The results showed that beams with rougher surface preparation have a high bond strength as compared to smoother surface preparations. The increase in flexural capacity of the roughened beams in Group A ranges from 18% to 32% as compared to the control beam, whilst the increase in flexural capacity of the roughened beams in Group B ranges from 20% to 42%.