• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1275-1303
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• 2016

Steel plates and carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates or plates bonded to concrete substrates have been widely used for concrete strengthening. However, this technique cause plate debonding, which makes the strengthening system inefficient. The main objective of this study is to enhance the bond strength of externally bonded steel plates and CFRP laminates to the concrete surface by proposing new embedded adhesive and steel connectors. The effects of these new embedded connectors were investigated through the tests on 36 prism specimens. Parameters such as interfacial shear stress, fracture energy and the maximum strains in plates were also determined in this study and compared with the maximum value of debonding stresses using a relevant failure criterion by means of pullout test. The study indicates that the interfacial bond strength between the externally bonded plates and concrete can be increased remarkably by using these connectors. The investigation verifies that steel connectors increase the shear bond strength by 48% compared to 38% for the adhesive connectors. Thus, steel connectors are more effective than adhesive connectors in increasing shear bond strength. Results also show that the use of double connectors significantly increases interfacial shear stress and decrease debonding failure. Finally, a new proposed formula is modified to predict the maximum bond strength of steel plates and CFRP laminates adhesively glued to concrete in the presence of the embedded connectors.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.6
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• pp.675-684
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• 2020

An innovative retrofit method using pre-stressed steel strips and externally-bonded steel plates was presented in this paper. With the aim of exploring the seismic performance of the retrofitted RC interior joints, four 1/2-scale retrofitted joint specimens together with one control specimen were designed and subjected to constant axial compression and cyclic loading, with the main test parameters being the volume of steel strips and the existence of externally-bonded steel plates. The damage mechanism, force-displacement hysteretic response, force-displacement envelop curve, energy dissipation and displacement ductility ratio were analyzed to investigate the cyclic behavior of the retrofitted joints. The test results indicated that all the test specimens suffered a typical shear failure at the joint core, and the application of externally-bonded steel plates and that of pre-stressed steel strips could effectively increase the lateral capacity and deformability of the deficient RC interior joints, respectively. The best cyclic behavior could be found in the deficient RC interior joint retrofitted using both externally-bonded steel plates and pre-stressed steel strips due to the increased lateral capacity, displacement ductility and energy dissipation. Finally, based on the test results and the softened strut and tie model, a theoretical model for determining the shear capacity of the retrofitted specimens was proposed and validated.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.86-93
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• 2020

The demand for maintenance in Korea infrastructure facilities constructed since the 1970s has increased significantly compared to the demand for new construction. Moreover, after the Gyeongju and Pohang earthquakes, seismic performance evaluation, repair, and retrofitting projects have been carried out. Therefore, in this study, a specimen was designed following the L-type GFRP Plate Externally Bonded Retrofit method, one among other retrofit methods. The L-type GFRP Plate was bonded to the specimen by epoxy and a washered steel nail. A four-point bending test was performed to confirm the strengthening effect of the Externally Bonded Retrofit method using an L-type GFRP Plate. The strengthening effect of the L-type GFRP plate was proven experimentally, and the behavior of the beam designed following the L-type GFRP Plate Externally Bonded Retrofit method was evaluated according to Korea's "Design Manual & Specification for Strengthening of RC Structures by Advanced Composites System". Furthermore, the effectiveness of the bonding method, a combination of epoxy and washered steel nail, was also checked. The results showed that the design, according to the guidelines mentioned above, predicted the strength of the member well, but the failure mode did not satisfy the design assumption because of unexpected damage to the GFRP plate due to the fixing method, washered steel nail.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.413-429
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• 2016

A theoretical method to predict the interfacial stresses in the adhesive layer of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with externally bonded carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) plate is presented. The analysis provides efficient calculations for both shear and normal interfacial stresses in reinforced concrete beams strengthened with composite plates, and accounts for various effects of Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus of adhesive. Such interfacial stresses play a fundamental role in the mechanics of plated beams, because they can produce a sudden and premature failure. The analysis is based on equilibrium and deformations compatibility approach developed by Tounsi. In the present theoretical analysis, the adherend shear deformations are taken into account by assuming a parabolic shear stress through the thickness of both the reinforced concrete beam and bonded plate. The paper is concluded with a summary and recommendations for the design of the strengthened beam.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1994.10a
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• pp.160-166
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• 1994

In general, the problems of strengthening and repairing of deteriorated or damaged reinforced concrete members are usually worked out in situ by externally bounding steel plates using epoxy resins, which has been recognized to be one of effective and convenient methods. But the disadvantages of strengthening/repairing concrete members with externally bonded steel plates include ; (a) deterioration of the bond at the steel-concrete interface caused by the corrosion of steel ; (b) difficulty in manipulating the plate at the construction site ; (c) improper formation of joints, due to the limited delivery lengths of the steel plates ; and etc. Therefore these difficulties eventually have led to the concept of replacing the steel plates by fiber-reinforced composite sheets which are characterized by their light weight, extremely high stiffness, excellent fatigue properties, and outstanding corrosion resistance. In the paper, for the reliability assessment of reinforced concrete beams externally strengthened by carbon fiber plastic(CFRP) laminates, an attempt is made to suggest a limit state model based on the strain compatibility method and the concept of fracture mechanics. And the reliability of the proposed models is evaluated by using the AFOSM method. The load carrying capacity of the deteriorated and/or damaged RC beams is considerably increased. Thus, it may be stated that the post-strengthening of concrete beams with externally bonded CFRP materials may be one of very effective way of increasing the load carrying capacity and stiffeness characteristics of existing structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.3
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• pp.385-397
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• 2023

This study presents an experiment and analysis to compare the seismic behavior of full-scale reinforced concrete beam-column joint strengthened by prestressed steel strips, externally bonded steel plate, and CFRP sheets. For experimental investigation, five specimens, including one joint without any retrofitting, one joint retrofitted by externally bonded steel plate, one joint retrofitted by CFRP sheets, and two joints retrofitted by prestressed steel strips, were tested under cyclic-reserve loading. The failure mode, strain response, shear deformation, hysteresis behavior, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation and damage indexes of all specimens were analyzed according to experimental study. It was found that prestressed steel strips, steel plate and CFRP sheets improved shear resistance, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation behavior and reduced the shear deformation of the joint core area, as well as changed the failure pattern of the specimen, which led to the failure mode changed from the combination of flexural failure of beams and shear failure of joints core to the flexural failure of beams. In addition, the beam-column joint retrofitted by steel plate exhibited a high bearing capacity, energy consumption capacity and low damage index compared with the joint strengthened by prestressed steel strip, and the prestressed steel strips reinforced joint showed a high strength, energy dissipation capacity and low shear deformation, stirrups strains and damage index compared to the CFRP reinforced joint, which indicated that the frame joints strengthened with steel plate exhibited the most excellent seismic behavior, followed by the prestressed steel strips.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.231-244
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• 2001

The strengthening of reinforced concrete structures using externally bonded steel or advanced fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composites is becoming increasingly common. A key factor affecting the behaviour and reliability of such strengthened structures is the bond strength between the steel or FRP plate and the concrete substrate. Several different experimental set-ups have previously been used to determine bond strength. This paper presents a careful finite element analysis of the stress distributions in these test set-ups. Results show that stress distributions can be significantly different for different set-ups, for similar materials and geometry.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.119-134
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• 2007

External bonding of steel or FRP plates to reinforced concrete (RC) structures has been a popular method for strengthening RC structures; however, unexpected premature failure often occurs due to debonding between the concrete and the epoxy. We proposed a Coulomb criterion with a constant failure surface as the debonding failure criterion for the concrete-epoxy interface. Diagonal shear bonding tests were conducted to determine the debonding properties that were related to the failure criterion, such as the angle of internal friction and the coefficient of cohesion. In addition, an interface element that utilized the Coulomb criterion was implemented in a nonlinear finite element analysis program to simulate debonding failure behavior. Experimental studies and numerical analysies on RC beams strengthened by an externally bonded steel or FRP plate were used to determine the range of the coefficient of cohesion. The results that were presented prove that premature failure loads of strengthened RC beams can be predicted with using the bonding properties and the finite element program with including the proposed Coulomb criterion.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.105-120
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• 2011

The strengthening and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures with externally bonded carbon fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates has shown excellent performance and, as a result, this technology is rapidly replacing steel plate bonding techniques. This paper addresses this issue, and presents results deals with the influence of external bonded CFRP-reinforcement on the time-dependent behavior of reinforced concrete beams. A total of eight reinforced concrete beams with cracked and un-cracked section, with and without externally bonded CFRP laminates, were investigated for their creep and shrinkage behavior. All the beams considered in this paper were simply supported and subjected to a uniform sustained loading for the period of six months. The main parameters of this study are two types of sustained load and different degrees of strengthening scheme for both cracked and un-cracked sections of beams. Both analytical and experimental work has been carried out on strengthened beams to investigate the cracking and deflection performance. The applied sustained load was 56% and 38% of the ultimate static capacities of the un-strengthened beams for cracked and un-cracked section respectively. The analytical values based on effective modulus method (EMM) are compared to the experimental results and it is found that the analytical values are in general give conservative estimates of the experimental results. It was concluded that the attachment of CFRP composite laminates has a positive influence on the long term performance of strengthened beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2022

This paper presents an experimental investigation into the effectiveness of using carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) and steel plates to repair damaged reinforced concrete (RC) beams with circular web openings at shear zones. It highlights the effectiveness of externally bonded CFRP and steel plates in repairing damaged RC beams by analysing the repaired beams'load capacity, deflection, strain, and failure mode. For the experiment, a total of five beams were used, with one solid beam as a control beam and the other four beams having an opening near the shear zone. Two beams with openings were repaired using inclined and vertical configuration CFRP plates, and the other two were repaired using inclined and vertical configuration steel plates. The results confirm the effectiveness of CFRP and steel plates for repairing damaged RC beams with circular openings. The CFRP and steel plates significantly increase ultimate capacity and reduce deflection under the openings. The inclined configuration of both CFRP and steel plates was more effective than the vertical configuration. Using an inclined configuration not only increases the ultimate capacity of the beams but also changes the mode of failure from shear to flexural.