Shear behavior of reinforced beams with basalt fiber reinforced polymer bars: Review, comparative analysis, and experimental validation

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing trend in the construction industry towards utilizing basalt fiber reinforced polymer BFRP bars. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of BFRP beams by collecting a vast dataset consisting of approximately 130 experimental data. The first part of the study involved a concise review of the shear behavior of BFRP beams, focusing on eight key parameters. Subsequently, an extensive analysis was conducted using ten different shear models and seven code provisions to predict the shear strength of BFRP beams, both with and without shear reinforcement. Based on the collected data from various studies, an equation was proposed to accurately estimate the shear strength of BFRP beams. The performance of this equation was evaluated during both the training and testing phases. The results indicated that the proposed equation was suitable for predicting the precise shear strength of BFRP beams. Furthermore, to validate the behavior and shear capacity of BFRP beams, four beams were experimentally tested, including one small beam and three larger ones. These beams were designed to consider various parameters such as reinforcement ratio, presence of stirrups, and size effects. The experimental results not only confirmed the knowledge obtained from the review regarding the cracking and stiffness behavior, but also supported the findings of the extensive analysis. Moreover, the proposed equation demonstrated good performance in accurately predicting the shear strength of tested BFRP beams.