CFRP-steel composite beams with seawater sea sand concrete cores subjected to bending

Abstract

A redesign was attempted for the concrete-filled double-skin tube subjected to bending, and by adjusting the core tube position and applying carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets or steel bars in the tensile region, it was hoped to delay the cracking of the concrete in the tensile region. Epoxy mortar was used to modify the interface. Seawater and sea sand has been successfully applied from reinforced concrete beams to concrete-filled steel tube beams, benefiting from the corrosion-resistant properties of CFRP and epoxy mortar. The four-point bending test parameters included the type of core tube, the number of CFRP layers, and the diameter of the steel bars. The beams with FRP sheets exhibited better flexural capacity and residual stiffness, while the brittle fracture of FRP led to major crack in concrete. The beams with steel bars exhibited better initial stiffness and the cracks in concrete were more uniform in width. When the layers of CFRP or the diameter of the steel bars was increased, the flexural capacity of the composite beams increased by 11.0%-13.6% and 7.0%-9.1%, respectively. The enhancements provided by the core tubes were small, and the design of the composite beams should be considered from various perspectives. The moment-curvature relationships, ultimate states, and flexural stiffness were defined by considering concrete cracking, FRP fracturing, and steel buckling. Several formulas for calculating flexural stiffness in the code were evaluated in combination with the test data.