Reinforcement of concrete beam–column connections with hybrid FRP sheet
Abstract The paper describes the results of tests on prototype size reinforced concrete frame specimens which were designed to represent the column–beam connections in plane frames. The tests were devised to investigate the influence of fibre reinforced plastic (FRP reinforcement applied to external surfaces adjacent to the beam–column connection on the behaviour of the test specimens under static loading. Of particular interest under static loading was the influence of FRP reinforcement on the strength and stiffness of beam–column connection. As a key to the study, the hybrid FRP composites of E-glass woven roving (WR) and plain carbon cloth, combined with chopped strand mat (CSM), glass fiber tape (GFT) with a vinyl-ester resin were designed to externally reinforce the joint of the concrete frame. The results show that retrofitting critical sections of concrete frames with FRP reinforcement can provide signification strengthening and stiffening to concrete frames and improve their behaviour under different types of loading. The selections of types of FRP and the architecture of composites in order to improve the bonding and strength of the retro-fitting were also discussed.
Author Keywords: Concrete structure; Strengthening; Rehabilitation; Hybrid FRP composite; Wrapping technique
1. Introduction
A widely adopted technique for retrofitting concrete structure is to use steel jackets placed around existing concrete columns [1 and 2]. The use of steel encasement to provide lateral confinement to the concrete in compression has been studied extensively [3 and 4], and has shown increase in the compression load carrying capacity and ductility of the concrete columns. However, the shortcomings of this technique are that it suffers from corrosions as well as inherent difficulties during practical applications. Fibre reinforced plastic (FRP), on the other hand, is increasingly being used to reinforce concrete, masonry and timber structures. The load carrying capacity and serviceability of existing structures can be significantly augmented through externally retrofitting critical sections with FRP sheeting. In recent years FRP materials with wide range of fibre types of glass, aramid or carbon provide designers with an adaptable and cost-effective construction material with a large range of modulus and strength characteristics. Comparing with traditional rehabilitation techniques, the FRP composites have high specific strength/stiffness, flexibility in design and replacement as well as robustness in unfriendly environments. With FRP composites it is possible and also necessary to achieve the best strengthening results by optimising the constitute materials and architecture. Optimisation of the constitute materials and architecture becomes essential in order to utilise the superiority of FRP composites in application of rehabilitation [5, 6, 7, 8 and 9]. It was found that winding of carbon fiber/epoxy composites around square concrete columns can increase the load carrying capacity by 8–22%, depending on the amount of fibres used and treatments of substrate surface [10]. The use of resin infusion technique was shown to contribute to substantial improvements in composite wrapping efficiency, and the use of woven glass roving, as the reinforcement in composites wrapping, was found to significantly increase both load carrying capacity and deformation resistance capacity of the concrete stubs [2]. Furthermore, through the use of glass/carbon hybrid reinforcements with an epoxy resin, replication of initial performance of concrete stubs subjected to deterioration was shown possible, with a simultaneous further improvement in load carrying capacity. In terms of the effects of orientation and thickness of the composites warps, it was found that the predominant use
