• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.79-85
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• 2017

This paper summarizes the experimental study of the shear behaviour of Hybrid Fibre Reinforced Concrete (HFRC) beams retrofitted by using externally bonded Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) laminates. To attain the set-out objectives of the present investigation, steel fibre of 1% and polypropylene fibre of 0.30% was used for hybrid steel-polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete: whereas for hybrid glass-polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete, glass fibre by 0.03% and polypropylene fibre of 0.03% by volume of concrete was used. In this study, 9 numbers of beams were cast and tested into three groups (Group I, II & III). Each group containing 3 numbers of beams, out of which one serve as a control beam or a hybrid steel-polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beam or a hybrid glass - polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beam and the remaining two beams were preloaded until shear cracks appeared up to 75% of ultimate load and then preloaded beams (damaged beams) were retrofitted with GFRP laminates at shear zone in the form of strips, as one beam in vertical position and another beam in inclined position to restrict the shear cracks. Finally, the retrofitted beams were loaded until failure and test results were compared. The experimental tests have been conducted to investigate various parameters of structural performance, such as load carrying capacity, crack pattern and failure modes, load-deflection responses and ductility relations. The test results revealed that beams retrofitted using GFRP laminates considerably increased the load carrying capacity. In addition, it was found that beams retrofitted with inclined strip offers superior performance than vertical one. Comparing the test results, it was observed that hybrid steel-polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beam retrofitted with GFRP laminates showed enhanced behaviour as compared to other tested beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.149-166
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• 2012

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the performance of 2.5 m long reinforced concrete (RC) T-beams strengthened in shear using epoxy bonded glass fibre fabric. Eighteen (18) full scale, simply supported RC T-beams are tested. Nine beams are used as control beam specimens with three different stirrups spacing without glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) sheet and rest nine beams are strengthened in shear with one, two, and three layers of GFRP sheet in the form of U-jacket around the web of T-beams for each type of stirrup spacing. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness, the cracking pattern and modes of failure of the GFRP strengthened RC T-beams. The test result indicates that for RC T-beams strengthened in shear with U-jacketed GFRP sheets, increase the load carrying capacity by 10-46%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.631-636
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• 2018

This study aims to investigate the flexural behaviour of glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) laminated hybrid fibre reinforced concrete (HFRC) beams. The flexural and ductility performance of GFRP laminated HFRC beams having different proportions of polyolefin and steel fibres with 1.0% of total volume fraction were investigated. The parameters of this investigation included: load and deflection at first crack, yield, and ultimate stages, ductility and crack width. A total of seven beams of $150{\times}250mm$ in cross-section were tested in the laboratory over an effective span of 2800 mm. One reinforced concrete (RC) beam without any internal or external GFRP was taken as the reference beam. Of the remaining six beams, one beam was strengthened with GFRP, one beam with 100% steel fibres was strengthened with GFRP and four beams, each with different volume proportions of polyolefin and steel fibres (20:80, 30:70, 40:60, 50:50) were strengthened with GFRP. All the above beams were tested until failure. The experimental results show that a fibre volume proportion of 40:60 (polyolefin-steel) has significantly improved the overall performance of the tested beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.825-845
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• 2016

The Turkish Earthquake Code was revised in 1998 and 2007. Before these Codes, especially 1998, reinforced concrete (RC) beams with low flexural and shear strength were widely used in the building. In this study, the RC specimens have been produced by taking into consideration the RC beams with insufficient shear and tensile reinforcement having been manufactured with the use of concrete with low strength. The performance of the RC specimens strengthened with different wrapping methods by using of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composites have been examined in terms of flexural strength, ductility and energy absorption capacity. In the strengthening of the RC elements, the use of GFRP composites instead of CFRP composites has also been examined. For this purpose, the experimental results of the RC specimens strengthened by wrapping with CFRP and GFRP are presented and discussed. It has been concluded that although the flexural and shear strengths of the RC beams strengthened with GFRP composites are lower than those of beams reinforced with CFRP, their ductility and energy absorption capacities are very high. Moreover, the RC beams strengthened with CFRP fracture are more brittle when compared to GFRP.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.75-98
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• 2013

This study focuses on shear strengthening performance of simply supported reinforced concrete (RC) T-beams bonded by glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) strips in different configuration, orientations and transverse steel reinforcement in different spacing. Eighteen RC T-beams of 2.5 m span are tested. Nine beams are used as control beam. The stirrups are provided in three different spacing such as without stirrups and with stirrups at a spacing of 200 mm and 300 mm. Another nine beams are used as strengthened beams. GFRP strips are bonded in shear zone in U-shape and side shape with two types of orientation of the strip at $45^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ to the longitudinal axis of the beam for each type of stirrup spacing. The experimental result indicates that the beam strengthened with GFRP strips at $45^{\circ}$ orientation to the longitudinal axis of the beam are much more effective than $90^{\circ}$ orientation. Also as transverse steel increases, the effectiveness of the GFRP strips decreases.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.369-382
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• 2020

This paper presents a discussion of the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) when applied for the analysis of concrete elements reinforced with glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. The purpose of such nonlinear FEA model development is to create a tool that can be used for numerical parametric studies which can be used to extend the existing (and limited) experiment database. The presented research focuses on the numerical analyses of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP longitudinal and shear reinforcements. FEA of concrete members reinforced with linear elastic brittle reinforcements (like GFRP) presents unique challenges when compared to the analysis of members reinforced with plastic (steel) reinforcements, which are discussed in the paper. Specifically, the behaviour and failure of GFRP reinforced members are strongly influenced by the compressive response of concrete and thus modelling of concrete behaviour is essential for proper analysis. FEA was performed using the commercial software ABAQUS. A damaged-plasticity model was utilized to simulate the concrete behaviour. The influence of tension, compression, dilatancy, mesh, and reinforcement modelling was studied to replicate experimental test data of beams previously tested at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Recommendations for the finite element modelling of beams reinforced with GFRP longitudinal and shear reinforcements are offered. The knowledge gained from this research allows for the development of a rational methodology for modelling GFRP reinforced concrete beams, which subsequently can be used for extensive parametric studies and the formation of informed recommendations to design standards.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.35-48
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• 2020

This paper deals with a comparative study among three different rehabilitation techniques, namely, (i) carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), (ii) glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) and (iii) ferrocement on the flexural strengthening of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) beams. As these different techniques have to be compared on a level playing field, tensile coupon tests have been carried out initially for GFRP, CFRP and ferrocement and the number of layers required in each of these composites in terms of the tensile strength. It was found that for the selected constituents of the composites, one layer of CFRP was equivalent to three layers of GFRP and five layers of wiremesh reinforcement in ferrocement. Rehabilitation of RCC beams using these equivalent laminates shows that all the three composites performed in a similar way and are comparable. The parameters selected in this study were (i) the strengthening material and (ii) the level of pre-distress induced to the beams prior to the rehabilitation. It was noticed that, as the levels of pre-distress decreases, the percentage attainment of flexural capacity and flexural stiffness of the rehabilitated beams increases for all the three selected composites used for rehabilitation. Load-deflection behavior, failure modes, energy absorption capacity, displacement ductility and curvature ductility were compared among these composites and at different distress levels for each composite. The results indicate that ferrocement showed a better performance in terms of ductility than other FRPs, and between the FRPs, GFRP exhibited a better ductility than the CFRP counterpart.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.255-268
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• 2017

Fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) are widely used to strengthen steel structures and retrofitting of existing structures due to its excellent properties. This paper reviews the use of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) and glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) in strengthening steel and concrete structures. The paper discusses the use of FRP in strengthening of steel bridges, uses of FRP in repairing of corroded structures and the behaviour of different adhesives. The paper then deals with the FRP strengthened hollow sections and the different failure experienced. The paper then reviewed the current state of art used in strengthening tubular structures and focusing on FRP in strengthening of joints.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.93-104
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• 2017

In the present work, the effect of hygrothermal aging on the glass fibre and epoxy matrix interface has been investigated by destructive and non-destructive techniques. The glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite laminates were prepared using Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion Molding (VARIM) technique and the specimens were immersed in simulated seawater, followed by quantitative measurement. Besides this, the tensile tests of GFRP specimens revealed a general decrease in the properties with increasing aging time. Also, exposed specimens were characterized by a non-destructive ultrasonic guided Lamb wave propagation technique. The experimental results demonstrate a correlation between the drop in ultrasonic voltage amplitude and fall in tensile strength with increasing time of immersion. Hence, the comparison of the transmitted guided wave signal of healthy vis-a-vis specimens subjected to different extents of hygrothermal aging facilitated performance evaluation of GFRP composites.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.361-373
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• 2022

This paper examines the flexural performance of concrete beams reinforced with glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars under fatigue loading. Experiments were carried out on concrete beams of size 1500×200×100 mm reinforced with 10 mm and 13 mm diameter GFRP bars under fatigue loading. Experimental investigations revealed that fatigue loading affects both strength and serviceability properties of GFRP reinforced concrete. Experimental results indicated that (i) the concrete beams experienced increase in deflection with increase in number of cycles and failed suddenly due to snapping of rebars and (ii) the fatigue life of concrete beams drastically decreased with increase in stress level. Analytical model presented a procedure for predicting the deflection of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars under cyclic loading. Deflection of concrete beams was computed by considering the aspects such as stiffness degradation, force equilibrium equations and effective moment of inertia. Nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis was performed on concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars. Appropriate constitutive relationships for concrete and GFRP bars were considered in the numerical modelling. Concrete non linearity has been accounted through concrete damage plasticity model available in ABAQUS. Deflection versus number of cycles obtained experimentally for various beams was compared with the analytical and numerical predictions. It was observed that the predicted values are comparable (less than 20% difference) with the corresponding experimental observations.