Fibre-reinforced polymer laminate–concrete bond check with ground penetrating radar Available to Purchase

Externally applied carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate is a viable, economic and durable option for strengthening deteriorated, damaged or under-designed concrete structures. Effective stress transfer at the CFRP–concrete interface is an important consideration and quantitative on-site inspection of CFRP application quality is still a challenging issue. In this study, a ground penetrating radar scanning approach was used to examine the bond quality in small-scale concrete beams with flexurally applied CFRP laminates. The parameters considered included the concrete surface roughness, concrete surface voids, epoxy thickness and CFRP type. A three-point bending test and numerical modelling were used to develop simple quantitative relationships between the scanning results and the parametric combinations. Non-destructive evaluation techniques are convenient and provide valuable information for the prediction of the interfacial bond quality and the actual capacity contribution of the CFRP laminate, which will allow a higher confidence level in CFRP application quality and better quality control of concrete structures.