Abstract
Various factors, including increase in traffic volume and weight, structural aging, and environmental impact, cause damage in structural members. This raises the importance of the maintenance, rehabilitation, and strengthening of reinforced concrete members. External post-tensioning is one of the widely-used strengthening techniques in many countries due to its advantages over other strengthening methods. Although flexural strengthening of existing structural members is a well-established method, shear strengthening of structural members, especially with existing shear cracks, has attained very little attention from researchers. Similarly, external fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bonding for shear strengthening of structural members, especially with existing shear cracks, is a relatively new area of research. This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the shear strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams with existing shear cracks by external post-tensioning and external FRP bonding. The test result showed that the combined strengthening technique of external post-tensioning and external FRP bonding can effectively increase the shear capacity of RC beams with existing shear cracks.
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