Bond Analysis of Curved Structural Concrete Elements Strengthened using FRP Materials

Repair and strengthening of reinforced concrete structures is becoming a very important topic in the field of the Civil Engineering because of the occurrence of concrete elements deterioration strictly linked to the durability of materials or the increase of the required performances for many structures.

On the other hand the success of FRP (Fibre Reinforced Plastic) in structural applications makes such materials very promising candidates for retrofitting concrete elements utilizing new techniques. In fact, composite materials are characterised from many advantageous properties with respect to traditional materials as steel, in particular the low weight, the good mechanical performances, the absence of corrosion that improves the durability of concrete structures reducing the maintenance costs.

As known the effectiveness of the repair technique depends, in more extend, on the bond between composites and concrete that influence the static behaviour of structural elements both under service and/or ultimate conditions. With reference to curved structural elements, as arches, in the paper an analysis of the bond performance between composite FRP sheets and concrete is carried out. The presence of curvature makes necessary the evaluation of bond-slip laws that take into account the presence of normal stresses besides that of shear stresses. Therefore the influence of the curvature both in terms of bond-slip laws and mechanisms of crisis is investigated.

• INTRODUCTION

• EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

• THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

• CONCLUSIONS

• REFERENCES