Development of a novel prestressing anchor for CFRP plates: Experimental investigations

Owing to high tensile strength, corrosion resistance and low weight, prestressed carbon fibre-reinforced-polymer (CFRP) plates have rapidly increasing applications in bridges, tall buildings, tunnels, high-speed trains, automotive, aviation, satellite and shipbuilding industries. This article illustrates the design of an innovative prestressing anchor for the popular 50 mm wide and 1.2 mm thick CFRP plates. This novel mechanical anchor can grip and prestress the CFRP plate to its full tensile capacity of 168 kN without any premature failure. This article focuses on the experimental investigation of prototypes of the new anchor, the experimental setup and the experimental results of twenty-two static tension tests. The new anchor was optimized through a sequential testing program for different design parameters. The average failure load of the new anchor was 187 ± 6 kN. The failure mode of the anchor was the tensile rupture of the CFRP plate at its free length outside of the anchor. This innovative post-tensioning anchor will be used to rehabilitate and retrofit reinforced concrete structures by flexural strengthening of the structures.