Abstract
The use of non-metallic fibre reinforced polymer reinforcement as an alternative to steel reinforcement in concrete is gaining acceptance mainly due to its high corrosion resistance. High strength-to-weight ratio, high stiffness-to-weight ratio and ease of handling and fabrication are added advantages. Other benefits are that they do not influence to magnetic fields and radio frequencies and they are thermally non-conductive. However, the stress-strain relationship for Glass fibre reinforced polymer reinforcement (GFRP) is linear up to rupture when the ultimate strength is reached. Unlike steel reinforcing bars, GFRP rebars do not undergo yield deformation or strain hardening before rupture. Also, GFRP reinforcement possesses a relatively low elastic modulus of elasticity compared with that of steel. As a consequence, for GFRP reinforced sections, larger deflections and crack widths are expected than the ones obtained from equivalent steel reinforced sections for the same load. This investigation provides details of the numerical analysis of GFRP reinforced slabs loaded mechanically using the commercial finite element program (DIANA). To prove the validity of the proposed finite element approach, a comparison is made with experimental test results obtained from full-size slabs. The comparisons are made on the basis of first cracking load, load-deflection response at midspan, cracking patterns, mode of failure and loads at failure. Using the DIANA software for the analysis of GFRP reinforced slabs under mechanical load is possible and can produce acceptable predictions throughout the load range in terms of final load and crack patterns. However, DIANA overestimated the first cracking load and tended to over predict the experimental deflections.
Highlights
The flexural design of concrete sections reinforced with Glass FRP is different from that of sections reinforced with steel because of the difference in mechanical properties of Glass fibre reinforced polymer reinforcement (GFRP) and steel
The flexural design of concrete sections reinforced with Glass FRP is different from that of sections reinforced with steel because of the difference in mechanical properties of GFRP and steel
The first cracking load obtained from Nonlinear finite element (NLFE) model was higher than the experimental data by about 13 to 50 %
Summary
The flexural design of concrete sections reinforced with Glass FRP is different from that of sections reinforced with steel because of the difference in mechanical properties of GFRP and steel. GFRP rebars do not undergo yield deformation or strain hardening before rupture For this reason, the flexural design of sections reinforced with GFRP has been based on: (i) ultimate strength, (ii) serviceability Ospina and Nanni [3] stated that the term d (Eq 2) which is dependent on bf is conceptually incorrect This is because it would imply that different deflections can be predicted for members reinforced with FRP bars that have similar stiffness but different ultimate tensile strength, ffu. The concrete participates in resisting tensile stress because of bond between the reinforcement and the concrete This effect is often referred to as tension stiffening and is taken into account with the effective second moment of area [5]. A major advantage of the NLFE model is that it can reduce the amount of experimental work and reduce costs
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