Effect of Sulfate Drying and Wetting Cycles on the Interfacial Bonding Properties between CFRP and Clay Brick

Abstract

To study the effects of sulfate drying and wetting cycles on the bond performance between fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) and clay brick, a test was performed in this study by simulating the sulfate environment through the cyclic accelerated sulfate drying and wetting cycles. Results showed that the failure mode of the carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and clay brick interface was greatly affected by the sulfate wetting and drying cycles. Furthermore, the interfacial bonding properties (including ultimate bearing capacity and peak shear stress) increased slightly at the beginning and then showed a rapid decline. Based on the experiment and the existing interface theory, a bond–slip model that considers the cycle times is proposed. After comparing the predicted data with the experimental data, the results showed that the model can well reflect the degradation law of the interface bonding performance under the actions of sulfate drying and wetting cycles.