Abstract
A critical performance aspect of FRP retrofitted concrete elements is the bonding of the FRP sheet to the concrete surface. In general, the performance is limited by the debonding of the loaded FRP sheets from the concrete surface. One method to delay debonding and enhance the capacity is the use of FRP anchors which interlock the FRP sheet to the concrete body. FRP anchors are made of rolled FRP fibres epoxied into in predrilled boreholes. There are a considerable number of studies on FRP strengthening methods available, and also FRP anchors attract more attention of the research community recently. However, to date FRP anchors were tested in a system together with the FRP sheet attached to the concrete, inhibiting the development of general design models. Moreover, the anchor behaviour was never tested for cyclic loads, though most applications are for seismic retrofitting schemes and cyclic shear loading generally results in reduced load capacity due to fatigue failure. To overcome the deficit in knowledge, shear tests on various FRP anchors were carried out. For these tests, FRP anchors were installed in concrete specimens on a separating steel section. The FRP anchor was then directly loaded to determine the capacity of the isolated component. This paper describes the testing approach and procedure. Details on the experimental results for static tests are presented and an outlook on seismic tests is given.
Highlights
A properly designed and durable anchorage of the FRP laminates to the concrete is critical for the performance of FRP strengthened concrete to avoid failure before the assigned load capacity is reached
The capacity of the FRP anchor with the used fibre content is relatively low as the pure shear strength of the FRP material is very low if compared to its outstanding tensile strength
The test setup used for this study proved to be practical and provided shear strength data with relatively low scatter
Summary
A properly designed and durable anchorage of the FRP laminates to the concrete is critical for the performance of FRP strengthened concrete to avoid failure before the assigned load capacity is reached. Experimental studies on FRP anchors loaded in shear are explicitly recommended in order to evaluate their strength and to enable the development of design models ([9], [10]). To close this gap, the experimental study presented in this contribution investigated the ultimate load capacity of isolated FRP anchors loaded in shear and identified the key parameter influencing the strength. The tests conducted on FRP anchors installed in concrete prisms and loaded in shear to failure allowed developing a shear strength model
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