NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF CONCRETE BEAM REINFORCED WITH GLASS FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER BARS

Abstract

The use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bars to reinforce concrete beams has received significant attention in the past decade due to their corrosion resistance, high tensile strength, and excellent non-magnetic properties. Glass FRP (GFRP) reinforcing bars have gained popularity due to the relatively lower cost compared to carbon FRP (CFRP) bars. In this study, sixteen concrete beam finite element models were created using the finite element computer program ANSYS to perform linear and non-linear analyses. Twelve beams were longitudinally reinforced with GFRP bars, while the remaining four beams were reinforced with conventional steel bars as control specimens. In terms of mechanical properties, FRP reinforcing bars have lower modulus of elasticity compared to conventional reinforcing steel and remain linear elastic up to failure. This leads to lack of plasticity and a brittle failure of beams reinforced with FRP bars. The objective of this study is to investigate flexural behavior of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP reinforcing bars. Some of the parameters incorporated in the numerical analysis include longitudinal reinforcement ratio and compressive strength of concrete, both of which affect the flexural capacity of beams. It is shown in this study that replacement of traditional reinforcing steel reinforced bars by GFRP bars significantly decreases mid-span deflection and increases ultimate load. The strain distribution along GFRP longitudinal reinforcing bars is totally different from that of traditional steel bars.