Monotonic and cyclic behaviour of isolated FRP anchors loaded in shear

Using anchors made of fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) is an increasingly accepted method to delay the delamination of FRP sheets from the concrete surface and to enhance the capacity of FRP strengthened concrete structures. For many applications, FRP anchors are primarily loaded in shear. When used for seismic retrofitting schemes, the anchors are subjected to cyclic loads which may lead to premature fatigue failure. To date, however, shear strength of FRP anchors has experienced much less attention than their tension resistance. This paper documents tests on isolated FRP anchors which were conducted to determine the seismic shear capacity of FRP anchors and to propose design rules. To this end, a test setup was developed which allows direct and reverse loading of FRP anchors.