Bond-slip Modelling of FRP Sheets Externally Bonded to Concrete Beam

Abstract

Use of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets to strengthen a deficient reinforced concrete structural element has become a popular economic repair and retrofit method. Debonding of FRP sheets from the concrete surface is still a common failure mode that is under investigation. The characteristics of the bond between the externally-bonded FRP sheets and the concrete substrate play a crucial role in the failure process of the strengthened beams. In this paper, a finite element model was implemented using the commercial program ANSYS to examine the stresses and strains along the bond length in the FRP sheets. The peak stresses and strains predicted by the American ACI 440.2R-08 code and Italian CNR- DT 200R1 code were compared with the finite element results.