Experimental studies on performance of reinforced concrete beam strengthened with CFRP under cyclic loading using FBG array

Abstract

Investigations are increasingly being carried out in the area of utilizing Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) materials for retrofitting and repairing existing damaged concrete structures due to their excellent properties. Favorable mechanical and material characteristics of FRP composites make them attractive for strengthening applications, whereas relatively higher material costs, insufficient knowledge in mechanics of their behavior, long-term durability and lack of related design codes are the issues that need to be addressed for mainstream application of these materials. Although there has been growing interest and field applications of strengthening concrete structures using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) sheet/plate, very little information exists regarding the flexural fatigue behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with CFRP. A common cause of failure in such strengthened members is associated with the debonding of CFRP substrate from the concrete in an abrupt manner. In order to understand the mechanism of debonding in strengthened concrete structures, embedment of strain sensors (Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) array) between the concrete and CFRP is proposed in this paper. Due to the compatibility with CFRP material and being small in size, fiber optic sensor is a good choice for embedding at the interface to measure interfacial strain. This paper presents the experimental studies carried out on CFRP strengthened concrete members subjected to cyclic loading. A special emphasis has been placed on understanding the failure pattern using the embedded FBG sensors. Based on the studies it is concluded that the strain at the interface of CFRP strengthened concrete members can be measured.