Shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams with laminate strips of CFRP

Abstract

A conventional and three distinct CFRP-based shear reinforcing systems were used to assess the most effective one on the shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams. Nowadays, one of these CFRP-based shear reinforcing systems is currently applied, wrapping the beam with strips of CFRP sheets. The two others CFRP-based shear reinforcing systems are based on bonding, with epoxy adhesive, laminate strips of CFRP into slits cut on the concrete cover of the lateral surfaces of the concrete beams. These two CFRP-based reinforcing systems only differ on the direction of the laminates. To evaluate the influence of the beam height, two series of tests with beams of distinct height were carried. These last reinforcing systems were more effective than the one based on strips of CFRP sheet, not only in terms of increasing the load bearing capacity, but also enhancing the beam ductility. They are also much more simple and faster to apply. In the present work the tests carried out are described and the main results are presented and analyzed.