PREDICTIVE RESPONSE OF NOTCHED STEEL BEAMS REPAIRED WITH CFRP STRIPS INCLUDING BOND-SLIP BEHAVIOR

This paper presents the flexural behavior of notched steel beams repaired with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. A combined experimental and computational approaches are used to examine local plasticity near the damage and the effects of CFRP-repair. A modeling approach is proposed to take into account the bond-slip behavior of CFRP-steel interface. The experimentally validated models are further used to conduct a parametric study addressing various engineering properties of CFRP composites and adhesives. The CFRP-repair is shown to restore the strength of the damaged beam. The CFRP strip relieves the stress concentration resulting from the presence of the notch, reducing the high local plasticity. The parametric study con firms the improved effectiveness of high modulus CFRP (i.e., exceeding 150 GPa) in affecting repairs of steel members. Under static loading conditions, the stiffness of the adhesive bond line influences the local behavior of the CFRP-steel interface but has little effect on the overall member behavior.