Abstract
Environmental impact has become one of the major factors taken into consideration for recent civil engineering studies and projects. Thus, researchers have been concentrating on shear strengthening of existing reinforced concrete structure as an upgrade method instead of demolishing and reconstructing. In general, shear strengthening of RC beams using externally bonded steel plate has gained huge popularity. However, premature debonding of plates is the main drawback of the system, which could be mitigated using embedded connector; thus, the dimension of steel plate could be reduced significantly. Furthermore, numerical analysis on shear strengthening of beams using embedded connector would provide a great insight on the structural behavior. The aim of this research is to severely reduce the dimension of the steel plate using embedded connector for shear strengthening of RC beams and to investigate the performances of optimized shear-strengthened beams through experimental and numerical investigations. The results showed that the dimension of plate was reduced without debonding of the plate if the beam was designed for shear strengthening with the consideration of yield strength of steel plate and shear link. Experimental results showed a maximum increase in failure of 24%. The numerical results predicted accurately the structural performance of beams. The embedded connector had a great effect in deferring and minimizing the debonding failure and accordingly increasing the maximum load of shear failure between 14.5% and 24% compared to control beam.
Highlights
RC beams are designed to have a higher shear capacity than flexural capacity, so shear failure can be avoided as it is brittle and sudden in nature
Side strips are the least effective as it debonds from the concrete surface, while full wrapping provides the highest effectiveness followed by U-wrapping
Premature debonding of externally bonded (EB) plates is the main weakness of the system
Summary
RC beams are designed to have a higher shear capacity than flexural capacity, so shear failure can be avoided as it is brittle and sudden in nature. Multiple causes such as severe corrosion of the steel stirrups due to deterioration or change in loading can lead to lower shear capacity. Shear strengthening of rectangular RC beams with steel plates can be applied using three different approaches: full wrapping, U-wrapping, and side strips. Side strips are the least effective as it debonds from the concrete surface, while full wrapping provides the highest effectiveness followed by U-wrapping. Premature debonding of EB plates is the main weakness of the system
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