Structural behaviour of RC beams with external flexural and flexural-shear strengthening by FRP sheets

This paper presents experimental research on reinforced concrete (RC) beams with external flexural and flexural-shear strengthening by fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets consisting of carbon FRP (CFRP) and glass FRP (GFRP). The work carried out has examined both the flexural and flexural-shear strengthening capacities of retrofitted RC beams and has indicated how different strengthening arrangements of CFRP and GFRP sheets affect behaviour of the RC beams strengthened. Research output shows that the flexural-shear strengthening arrangement is much more effective than the flexural one in enhancing the stiffness, the ultimate strength and hardening behaviour of the RC beam. In addition theoretical calculations are developed to estimate the bending and shear capacities of the beams tested, which are compared with the corresponding experimental results. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.