Shear strength of glass fiber reinforced polymer – reinforced concrete continuous beams without transverse reinforcement

Abstract

The shear behaviour of continuous concrete beams reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars without shear reinforcement has not been studied yet. However, the current codes and guidelines for FRP-reinforced concrete (RC) structures provide shear provisions that are applicable to both simple and continuous members. These provisions are based on test results of simple beams that do not account for the continuity of indeterminate structures. In this paper, the test results of large-scale GFRP-RC continuous beams without transverse reinforcement are presented. The test variables are the type and ratio of longitudinal reinforcement, and concrete strength aiming to evaluate the shear strength of such beams. The test results showed that moment and shear redistribution occurred. Also, the shear capacity of GFRP-RC continuous beams increased as both the longitudinal reinforcement and the concrete strength increased. Moreover, it was found that the continuity affected the concrete contribution to the shear strength where the ratio of experimental-to-predicted shear strength by different codes and guidelines was less than that of simply-supported beams.