Can Existing Design Codes Be Used to Design Flexural Reinforced Concrete Elements Strengthened with Externally Bonded Novel Materials?

Abstract

The use of composite overlays to strengthen or rehabilitate existing structural elements has been investigated over the past few decades. The most common composites that were used are based on Glass or Carbon fibers impregnated in an organic polymeric matrix, known as GFRP or CFRP, respectively. Thus, many design codes throughout the world provide methodologies to calculate the flexural strength of reinforced concrete members strengthened with externally bonded Carbon or Glass fiber composites. It is essential to keep in mind that the experimental databases that were used in these codes were based on experiments conducted on these materials. However over the last years new materials have emerged, such as steel fibers (SRP/SRG) and basalt fibers (BFRP), as well as textile reinforced mortars (TRM). In this study the target was to investigate if the analytical models described in the codes can effectively be used to describe these novel materials as well. In order to do so, a statistical analysis was conducted to compare experimental results to results obtained using the methodologies described in the codes. It was found that most codes perform surprisingly well and in only few cases they do not provide acceptable results. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.