Shear-strengthening of reinforced & prestressed concrete beams using FRP: Part II — Experimental investigation

The main objectives of this research were to experimentally evaluate the impact of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) amount and strip spacing on the shear behavior of prestressed concrete (PC) beams and to evaluate the applicability of existing analytical models of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) shear capacity to PC beams shear-strengthened with CFRP. The Ushaped CFRP strips with different spacing were applied externally to the test specimens in order to observe the overall behavio r of the prestressed concrete I-beams and the mode of failure of the applied CFRP strips. Results obtained from the experimental program showed that the application of CFRP strips to prestressed concrete I-beams did in fact enhance the overall behavior of the specimens. The strengthened specimens responded with an increase in ductility and in shear capacity. However, it should be noted that the CFRP strips were not effective at all at spacing greater than half the effective depth of the specimen and that fracture of the strips was the dominant failure mechanism of CFRP. Further research is needed to confirm the conclusion derived from the experimental program.