Shear enhancement of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with FRP composite laminates

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on shear strength enhancement of reinforced concrete beams externally reinforced with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. A total of nine full-scale beam specimens of three different classes, as-built (unstrengthened), repaired and retrofitted were tested in the experimental evaluation program. Three composite systems namely carbon/epoxy wet layup, E-glass/epoxy wet layup and carbon/epoxy precured strips were used for retrofit and repair evaluation. Experimental results indicated that the composite systems provided substantial increase in ultimate strength of repaired and strengthened beams as compared to the pre-cracked and as-built beam specimens. A comparative study of the experimental results with published analytical models, including the ACI 440 model, was also conducted in order to evaluate the different analytical models and identify the influencing factors on the shear behavior of FRP strengthened reinforced concrete beams. Comparison indicated that the shear span-to-depth ratio (a/d) is an important factor that actively controls the shear failure mode of beam and consequently influences on the shear strength enhancement.