Flexural behavior and modelling of FRP-bar reinforced seawater sea sand concrete beams exposed to subtropical coastal environment

Abstract

This paper presents long-term flexural behavior of FRP-bar reinforced concrete beams exposed to subtropical coastal environment. Four-point bending tests were conducted and the effects of exposure duration, concrete type, and FRP-bar type were investigated. The load-deflection response of such beams features a nonlinear hardening following the linear ascending. Generally, their ultimate load-carrying capacity was reduced with the increasing exposure duration and further reduced when the seawater and sea sands were used, the BFRP-bar reinforced beams produced higher capacity than the GFRP-bar reinforced ones. For a design-oriented purpose, current American and Chinese codes were modified to determine their load-carrying and deformation capacities at both ultimate and serviceability limit states; for an analysis-oriented purpose, the finite element model has been established and justified to capture their failure modes and stress-strain response.