Mechanical behavior and electrical property of CFRC-strengthened RC beams under fatigue and monotonic loading

This study introduces a new CFRC-strengthened RC beam model which can both strengthen and monitor the large-scale RC element used in concrete infrastructures. An experiment of testing four-point bending beams is proceeded in order to analyze mechanical behavior and electrical property of the designed beam under monotonic loading as well as the relationship between electrical property and fatigue damage under cyclic flexural loading. The analytical results indicate that this innovative CFRC-strengthened beam has better flexural performance due to the improved cracking resistance capacity of the CFRC layer. Besides, the change in electrical resistance of the beam is detected under monotonic loading. It is found that the thicker the CFRC layer, the larger the electrical resistance increases, and while electrical resistance irreversibly increases as load cycling progresses, the greater the stress amplitude, the greater the fatigue damage, and the larger the residual resistance increases. Based on this discovery, a new technique to monitor the damage of the designed CFRC-strengthened RC beam is produced by means of resistance measurement.