Shear Behavior of RC Beams Retrofitted With End Anchorage -External

CFRPPP Confinement
Franklin F.R Frederick1, S.M. ASCE, U.K. Sharma2 and V.K. Gupta3
1.

Research scholar, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee, India.

sheebu4174@yahoo.com
2.
Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee, India.
umuksfce@iitr.ac.in
3.
Emeritus Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee, India.
vkgsufce@iitr.ac.in
ABSTRACT: The concept of sustainable in civil engineering is the present needs
without compromising the future. Nowadays many structures are restored or
strengthened using different techniques to make structure sustainable .In repair and
retrofitting of a structural elements or a structure, appropriate techniques has to be
choose according to the damage level. Epoxy injection is one kind of method to fill
the cracked surface. Whereas in strengthening or retrofitting a reinforced concrete
(RC) member, external strengthening techniques using various fiber reinforced
polymer (FRP) fabrics can be employed. In this study to examine the effectiveness of
externally bonded carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (EB-CFRP) system with end
anchorage on retrofitting the severely damaged reinforced concrete (RC) beams have
been examined. To represent a severe damage condition, beams were tested to failure,
retrofitted, and then retested to failure for a second time. Test parameters included
experimental study on the behavior of retrofitting the severely damaged reinforced
concrete (RC) beams strengthened using externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced
polymer (EB-CFRP) wrapping with new end anchorage technique to eliminate the
debonding failure. The results demonstrated that retrofitting of severely damaged RC
T-beams with EB-CFRP composites and proper end anchorage can fully restore the
original shear capacity of the beams as an end anchorage system was more effective
than EB-CFRP method.
INTRODUCTION
In civil engineering the concept of sustainability refers to make the structure to
sustain without destroying or degrading the life of the existing structure. Normally a

moment resisting frame consists of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams and columns.

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Instead of demolishing and new construction a structure can be restored to a new

extent to make the structure a sustainable one. As a result of past few decades
research , numerous retrofitting and strengthening techniques are available in practice
to restore a structure with enhanced performance. Generally strengthening refers to
increase a structure or structural component performance to a new extent from the
designed one without affecting the existing other properties. The selection of
strengthening technique depends on the components requirement and its
configuration. In general, FRPs are used in parallel to the beam to resist high tensile
stresses resulting from the applied load. Prefabricated FRP strips, rods, and sheets are
used for strengthening or in retrofitting works. Shear strengthening is usually
provided by external FRP bonding on the sides of the webs with the principal fiber
direction perpendicular or with an angle of 45 to the member axis. It has been in
increased use since last few decades and has been well evaluated internationally (
Triantafillou 1998; Khalifa et al . 1998; Khalifa and Nanni 2002; Adhikary et al.
2004; Sundarraja and Rajamohan 2009). Similarly numerous experimental studies on
RC T-beams strengthened with FRP in shear are also observed in the literature (
Khalifa and Nanni 2000; Chaallal et al. 2002; Deniaud and Cheng 2003;
Bousselham and Chaallal 2006; Panda et al. 2010).The researchers have shown that
the shear strength of reinforced concrete beams may be substantially increased by
bonding fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) strips or sheets as external shear
reinforcement.
The failure of RC structures strengthened with FRP almost always occurs by
debonding of FRP from the concrete surface. To avoid this type of failure,
international standards and design guidelines impose strict limitations on the
allowable strain level in the FRP which may be safely utilized in design. In order to
achieve acceptable levels of concrete-FRP contact bond stress, allowable strains are
lower in cases where a higher degree of strengthening is required and can be as low as
10-25% of the material rupture strain (Kalfat and Al-Mahaidi 2010). Low levels of
efficiency are often the result of using higher modulus fibers and multiple layers of
FRP. In practice these limitations result in severe underutilization of the FRP material
properties. Proper anchorage of FRP is one means to significantly improve the
efficiency of FRP systems and hence provide a solution to these shortcomings,
Debonding failures can be avoid by using FRP U-jackets. Smith and Teng (2003)
shifted the debonding failure mode from concrete cover to IC debonding using with
the addition of plate end U-jackets Therefore, in an effort to prevent failure by IC
debonding, the placement of U-jackets throughout the span or in the flexural-shear
zones (at certain spacings) has been investigated by several researchers to date
(Amery and Mahaidi 2006; Khan and Ayub 2010; Pham and Mahaidi 2006; Yalim et
al. 2008). Properly designed end-anchorage systems can achieve a superior
contribution to shear resistance compared with specimens strengthened using EB FRP

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with no anchorage, near surface mounted (NSM) technique, or embedded throughsection ETS methods (Amir Mofidi et al.2012).
This study aims at investigating the shear behavior of RC beams retrofitted and
strengthening using CFRP wrapping with externally bonded. This study reports the
experimental study on the effectiveness of external anchorage in retrofitted region of
beams. This study is totally different from the earlier works and focuses on the
aspect of the structural behavior of RC T- beams retrofitted and strengthened in shear
with externally bonded CFRP sheets on side of the T-beams with different wrapping
techniques. In this study, load deflection behavior, ductility and mode of failure are
considered as most important parameters.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
Test specimen
The experimental program consists of three types of 1.4m long RC T-beams. Each typ
consists of three beams to get the average results. The first type is control beam,
where as second and third are retrofitted and strengthened beams. In second type,
beams were retrofitted and strengthened with CFRP Externally Bonded
Reinforcement (EBR) Technique. In the third category, beams are retrofitted and
strengthened with End Anchorage (EA) technique
Materials
The conventional concrete with an average cube compressive strength of 34Mpa at 28
days was employed. All the T-beams are 1.4 m long and designed to fail in shear.
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) 43 grade as cementitious material with locally
available river sand as fine aggregate and coarse aggregate with a maximum size of
12.5mm were used with the water cement ratio of 0.45 to produce concrete. The
reinforcing steel was commercially available Fe 415 and Fe 500. The bars used for
longitudinal reinforcement at tension zone were 16mm in diameter and at
compression zone 8mm diameter bars were used. The bar used for stirrups were 6mm
in diameter. CFRP sheet 0.15 mm in thickness, with an average tensile strength of
4137Mpa and the elastic modulus is 242 GPa was used for strengthening technique,
shown in Fig.1a. DR.fixit epoxy bonding agent used to fill the cracks. Steel fiber
reinforced concrete (SFRC) using crimpled steel fiber (df = 0.3.mm and the lf =
29mm) was used to fill the damaged section of the beam. The cross section details of
RC beam specimen with dimensions are as shown in Figure 3.

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(a)
(b)
FIG. 1. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (a) sheet (b) crimped steel fiber.
Strengthening schemes
Figure 2 shows the strengthened beams with CFRP. Figure 3 shows the
techniques employed to restore the damaged T-beams. Table 1 summarized all
specimens configuration.

(a) CFRP-EBR ( TB2)

(b) CFRP-EA ( TB3)
FIG. 2. Typical strengthened beams.

(a)

(d)

(b)

(e)
FIG. 3. Employed retrofitting techniques.

(c)

(f)

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Table 1. Details of test specimens

Speci
-men
ID

Strengthening
schemes

TB1

Control beam

TB2

TB3

Externally
bonded reft.
(EBR) technique
Anchorage
technique

Longitudinal
reinforcement
@ top @ bottom
mm
mm
4 Nos.
4 Nos.
T8
T16

Transverse
reinforcement
spacing size spacing
mm
mm
mm

size
mm
T6

250

T8

100

4 Nos.
T8

4 Nos.
T16

T6

250

T8

100

4 Nos.
T8

4 Nos.
T16

T6

250

T8

100

In Specimen TB3, CFRP sheet was used for external wrapping in U shape.
To implement the self end-anchorage system a groove with an average width of 5
mm-7mm and 15-17 mm in depth were made along the shear span in the beams
flange at the flange-web junction. Later a thin layer of epoxy paste was applied along
the grooves and then the free ends of the CFRP sheets bonded to the beams web were
installed inside the grooves. Finally the grooves were filled with epoxy paste.
INSTRUMENTATION
All specimens were tested under three point monotonic loading with shear span to
effective depth (a/d) ratio equal to 3.24. The tests were carried out using 100 ton
hydraulic jack and corresponding load and deflections were observed using load cell
and Linear Variable Displacement Transducer (LVDT). Figure 4 shows the loading
setup.

FIG.4. Beam specimen detailing and test setup

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In specimen TB1, initially vertical cracks were initiated in the mid region at 82.6 kN
with corresponding 0.85mm deflection. In later stage of loading various vertical
cracks were formed throughout the span. During further load increase inclined cracks
were started to initiate at 145 kN. The presence of stirrups with higher spacing in one
side of beam is not able to restrict the growth of inclined cracks. Thus various
inclined cracks were accumulated in weaker section of beam than well confined
region. Although the occurrence of inclined cracks in well confined region the failure
took place in weaker side of the beam. The observed deflection at failure was 7.5mm.
Finally the beam experienced sudden shear failure as shown in Fig.5.

FIG. 5. Failure pattern of test specimen TBC

Energy dissipation has been observed to estimate the ductile property by calculating
the area of load deflection curve. The measured average energy dissipation of control,
specimen TB1 was 1788 kN-mm. Also an average of 50 percent initial stiffness was
measured at failure in specimens TB1.
350

Load (kN)

300
250
1

200
150

TB 1
2

100

TB 2

50
0
0

10

15

20

25

Deflection (mm)
FIG. 6. Load deflection curve of test specimens TB1 and TB2

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Figure 6 shows the load deflection curve of TB1 and TB2. The figure shows
decreased initial stiffness of specimen TB2 over control, specimen TB1. It shows the
ineffectiveness of employed strengthening technique. In TB2 the cracked region
concrete was completely removed and refilled with SFRC in order to meet the
designed strength. Also epoxy was employed to create a better bonding between the
old concrete surface and fresh concrete. Finally CFRP was wrapped in U shape.
Though the specimen could not reach the design strength. This is because of
insufficient stirrups along with the employed U shape wraps poor anchorage could
not withstand for higher loading. Also the load deflection curve of specimen TB 2
shows lesser initial stiffness over control beam because of inadequate anchorage of
CFRP. Finally the specimen failed in brittle shear where the previous failure exists,
shown in Fig.7. The observed 1045 kN-mm energy dissipation shows the poor
behaviour as compared with the control beam TB1.

FIG. 7. Failure pattern of test specimen TB2

350

Load (kN)

300
250
1

200
150

3
TB 1

100

TB 3

50
0
0

10

15

20

25

Deflection (mm)
FIG. 8. Load Deflection curve of test specimens TBC and TBFE

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Whereas specimen TB3 shows enhanced deflection behaviour and equates the control
beam load carrying capacity. Figure 8 shows the better load carrying capacity of
specimen strengthened with EBR technique than TB2. Though the initial stiffness of
TB3 shows little lesser than control but the observed energy dissipation 2568 kN-mm
authenticates the effectiveness of EBR over control technique. In TB2 immediate
debonding has observed, whereas in specimen TB3 vertical cracks were noticed in the
laminated region. The observed energy dissipation shows 40 % and 150% higher than
specimens TB1 and TB2 respectively. The measures stiffness at yield shows 50%
higher yield stiffness over specimen TB2.
Although the yield stiffness is
comparatively lesser than the control, specimen the employed EBR techniques made
the specimen to sustain for a deflection upto 14mm which is considerably 40% higher
than control specimen. Thus the EBR imparts ductility to the retrofitted structure.
Even at failure level little debonding failure took place but not upto the specimen
TB2. Figure 9 shows the failure pattern of specimen TB3.

FIG. 9. Failure pattern of test specimen TB3

CONCLUSIONS
1. The beam strengthened with CFRP wrapping showed an increase in load
carrying capacity from 20% to 25% as compared to the corresponding control
beam.
2. The use of external anchorage using CFRP strips and rods provided additional
load carrying capacity. This shows 30% to 40% higher ultimate load carrying
capacity than control beam and 10% to 15 % higher than the beam with CFRP
wrapping alone.
3. The measured energy dissipation of beam strengthened with external
anchorage technique shows 400% higher energy dissipation than control beam
and beam with CFRP wrapping.
4. Based on the test results, CFRP wrapping with external anchorage using
CFRP strips and rods on RC T-beams is an effective method to enhance the
inelastic behaviour of shear deficient beams without sudden failure.

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