Strain Distribution on Reinforcement of Concrete Beams Reinforced with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) Bars

Abstract

This paper presents a part of the results from an experimental study of strain distribution on reinforcement of concrete beams reinforced with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. Under static loading conditions, eight concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars were tested and as comparison eight beams with steel reinforcement were also tested. All of the beams were prepared with varying ratios of longitudinal reinforcement bars and stirrups. The effect of shear span-effective depth ratio on strain distribution of longitudinal reinforcement was also observed. Furthermore, the behavior of strain on stirrups due to different materials of longitudinal reinforcement was also discussed in this report. The test results show that the ratio of longitudinal reinforcement significantly influence the strain distributions on reinforcement where the beams with higher ratio exhibit higher strain. Moreover, it was also obtained that the different types of longitudinal reinforcement considerably influences the strain behavior on stirrups as higher strain was observed in beams reinforced with GFRP bars.