Composite Structures 75 (2006) 457464

www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Coupled exuralshear retrotting of RC beams using CFRP straps

Riyadh Al-Amery a, Riadh Al-Mahaidi
a

b,*

Department of Building and Construction Engineering, University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq

b
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3800, Australia
Available online 30 May 2006

13th International Conference of Composite Structures, 1618 November 2005, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract
This paper reports on an experimental investigation carried out to investigate the coupling of shear-exural strengthening of RC
beams. The presence of shear straps to enhance shear strength has the dual benet of delaying debonding of CFRP sheets used for exural strengthening. Six RC beams were tested; having various combinations of CFRP sheets and straps in addition to an unstrengthened
beam as control test. The instrumentations used in these tests cover the strain measurements in dierent CFRP layers and located along
the span, in addition to the slip occurring between the concrete and the CFRP sheets. Test results and observations showed that a signicant improvement in the beam strength is gained due to the coupling of CFRP straps and sheets. Further, a more ductile behaviour is
obtained as the debonding failure is prevented.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Concrete beams; Retrotting; Carbon bre polymers; CFRP

1. Introduction
The ongoing eorts to strengthen existing concrete
structures, along with the development of advanced composite materials, led to the development of a new strengthening approach. This approach uses sheets made of bre
reinforced plastic (FRP) bonded to the tensile face of the
member. The method has many advantages, mainly due
to the superior mechanical properties of the composite
material and its applicability to broad range of structural
members such as beams, columns, slabs and masonry walls.
Various aspects of this innovative strengthening method
have been investigated in the past 15 years. These aspects
include the overall behaviour of the strengthened beam
[1,2], the response of strengthened pre-cracked beams,
pre-tensioned beams [3,4] and shear strengthening of beams
[58]. Further, the failure mechanisms of the strengthened
member were also investigated [912]. The failure is often
*

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: al-mahaidi@eng.monash.edu.au (R. Al-Mahaidi).

0263-8223/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2006.04.037

characterised by sudden separation of the bonded FRP

sheets. Special attention has been paid to determination of
the stress distributions within the adhesive layer near the
edge of the bonded strip [1317].
Most of the previous work on strengthening concrete
elements using external CFRP composites was related to
the use of either CFRP sheets for exural strengthening or
CFRP straps for shear strengthening. In fact, an increase of
the external reinforcement area does not always lead to the
expected increase of the beam load capacity, due to the
interaction of exural and shear behaviour which will shift
the failure mode towards the brittle shear failure. Further,
the use of the CFRP shear straps alone will enhance the
shear capacity of the section with the exural capacity
being limited to the capacity of the concrete section. It is
worth mentioning that two third of the specimens tested
for CFRP exural strengthening failed due to plate debonding [18,19]. This failure mode can be classied into
two key categories [20]; end debonding which is the failure
that originates near the plate end and propagates in the
concrete either along tension steel reinforcement (end cover

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R. Al-Amery, R. Al-Mahaidi / Composite Structures 75 (2006) 457464

beam is characterized by sectional behaviour. For higher

loads, due to the crack formation in the RC beam, the
bonding zones are located inside each pair of cracks, at
roughly constant spacing along the beam. In fact, at each
new crack opening, the concrete tensile stress is transferred
to the internal and external reinforcements through the
bonded surface, introducing new peaks in the bond stress
distribution localized where the FRP plate crosses the
crack. Thus, near the failure load, almost all of the beam
length contains such regions and will be eliminated due
to the existence of the CFRP straps.
In this paper, a detailed experimental investigation is
presented on coupled exuralshear retrotting of RC

separation) or near the bond line (end interface debond).

Midspan debond, which is the failure that originates either
from a exural crack (exural crack debond) or an inclined
exural-shear crack (shear crack debond). It then propagates to the plate ends parallel to the bonded plate near
the adhesiveconcrete interface.
The coupled exuralshear retrotting of RC beams
may overcome the premature failure mode through the
action of the CFRP straps. The spacing of the straps will
add anchorage zones to the initially bonded CFRP sheets,
where the bond failure can take place with a rapid propagation process. Up to the rst cracking load, the anchorage
zones are located only at the plate ends and the rest of the

R5

220

260

46

2N12

3N12

CFRP
100
140

(a)

Shear reinforcement

Longitudinal
reinforcement

CFRP

150

150

200

2300

200

(b)

Shear reinforcement

Longitudinal
reinforcement

CFRP

200

200
150

2400

150

(c)
Fig. 1. Typical details beam specimens: (a) cross-sectional details, (b) four point loading for test beams RR1 and RR2, (c) three-point loading for test
beams RR3RR6.

R. Al-Amery, R. Al-Mahaidi / Composite Structures 75 (2006) 457464

beams using CFRP straps. The major points of emphasis

are the prevention of debonding mode of failure, the occurrence of the interface slip between the concrete and the
CFRP matrix and the strain variation across the CFRP
layers.
2. Specimen details
Six RC beams with various CFRP retrotting schemes
were manufactured and tested at Monash University.
One concrete beam RR1 was kept without retrotting
and was considered as a control beam for comparison.
The rest of the beams were provided with either CFRP
sheets for exural strengthening, RR3, with CFRP straps
for shear strengthening, RR2 or with coupled CFRP sheets
and straps for overall strengthening, RR4, RR5 and RR6.
Two beams, RR1 and RR2, were tested in four-point bending over a total span of 2300 mm and a shear span of
700 mm, while the rest, RR3RR6, were tested in threepoint bending. This was intended to increase the applied
moment at the critical section of the beam. All the beams
have a width of 140 mm, a depth of 260 mm and rebars
as shown in Fig. 1. The details of the beams are given in
Table 1. The CFRP straps are one layer 50 mm wide CFRP
in a complete loop with 75 mm overlap and spacing of
200 mm along the beam span. The CFRP sheets are of
three layers applied centrally in a wet lay-up process along
the bottom surface of the beams having a width of 100 mm
and a length of 2000 mm.

Table 1
Details of the tested beams
Beam
designation

CFRP provided

Type of loading

Total
span
(mm)

Shear
span
(mm)

RR1
RR2
RR3
RR4
RR5
RR6

None (control)
Strapsa
Sheetsb
Straps + sheets
Straps + sheets
Straps + sheets

Four point bending

Four point bending
Three-point bending
Three-point bending
Three-point bending
Three-point bending

2300
2300
2400
2400
2400
2400

700
700
1200
1200
1200
1200

CFRP straps are 50 * 0.176 mm single loops at 200 mm c/c spacing.

CFRP sheets are 2000 * 100 * 0.176 mm applied symmetrically in three
layers.
b

459

Table 2
Average mechanical properties of materials
Material

E (MPa)

fsy (MPa)

ft (MPa)

Steel (N12)
Steel (R5)
CFRP fabric
Adhesive

195,000
238,000
215,000
>3500

504
423

608
544
1710
>Concrete

3. Material properties
The concrete beams were cast in plywood moulds with
20 mm round corners as sharp corners must be avoided
when applying the CFRP straps. A single concrete mix
was used for all the six beams in order to have similarity
in strength. Three coupons were prepared from each size
of the rebar used (i.e., 5 mm and 12 mm diameters) and
tested for tensile strength and modulus of elasticity. Table
2 gives the average mechanical properties of used re bars.
The carbon bre used was MBrace CF 130. As part of a
broader research work at Monash University, tensile coupon tests were conducted for CFRP [17] to verify the tensile
modulus, tensile strength and strain specied by the manufacturer. The test results are also given in Table 2.
4. Specimen preparation and test set-up
The procedure of concrete surface preparation and
CFRP application has a great impact on the strength and
the composite action of the resulting matrix of polymers.
The bonding surface of the concrete beam were prepared
using high pressure water jet to remove the exterior thin
lm of past and expose the coarse aggregate. This method
proved to be ecient and led to relatively rough surfaces
necessary for achieving strong bond. Wet lay-up process
was used for CFRP application through which a resin
undercoat layer was applied rst, then rst layer of carbon
bre sheet, resin over-coat, second layer of carbon bre
sheet and so on. The complete system was left to cure for
one week at room temperature. Fig. 2 shows prepared concrete surfaces and the wet lay-up process for applying the
CFRP matrix.
The beams were loaded using Instron universal testing
machine with 250 kN load capacity. The loading rate was
0.5 mm per minute for most of the test. Fig. 3 shows the

Fig. 2. Prepared concrete surfaces and placing of carbon bres on the wet resin.

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R. Al-Amery, R. Al-Mahaidi / Composite Structures 75 (2006) 457464

gauges were used to monitor the longitudinal strain in the

outer CFRP layer in four positions, denoted as G11, G12,
G13 and G14. These gauges were located at 50 mm,
300 mm, 550 mm and 900 mm from the end of the CFRP
sheet.
5.3. Inter-layer strain

Fig. 3. Testing frame and set-up.

test set-up. Each test started by several cycles of small loading (i.e., about 510 kN) in order to get rid of any slack in
the test set-up and measuring devices. Afterwards, the load
was applied progressively under displacement control until
failure.
5. Instrumentation
The monitoring devices used included load cells, linear
voltage displacement transducers (LVDT), electrical resistance strain gauges and bre optic strain sensors. These
devices were used for the measurements outlined below.
A summary of the instrumentations used for each beam
is given in Table 3.

In order to monitor the longitudinal strain between the

CFRP layers, two embedded bre optic strain sensors were
used in each of the beams RR5 and RR6, in a location
coinciding with foil gauge position G14 at a distance of
900 mm from the end of the CFRP sheet. The bre optic
strain sensors were denoted as G15 for the gauge embedded
between the second and third layers and G16 for the gauge
embedded between the rst and second layers. A special
arrangement was prepared for these gauges to protect them
during placement between layers as they have to be xed in
position during the wet lay up process.
5.4. Interface slip
Two specially built LVDTs, denoted as G17 and G18,
were located near both ends of the CFRP sheets and glued
to the concrete surface. The purpose of this LVDT was to
measure the relative interface slip between the concrete surface and the CFRP matrix at their ends. All beams with
CFRP sheets were instrumented at both ends as shown in
Fig. 4.

5.1. Strains in the CFRP straps

5.5. Vertical deection

Electrical resistance (foil) strain gauges denoted by G1,

G2, G3 and G4 were used to monitor the longitudinal strain
in the CFRP straps starting from the rst strap near the
support with gauge G1. The strain gauges were located at
mid height and mid width of each nominated CFRP strap.

Two LVDTs were located at mid span, one underneath

the beam denoted as G19 used to measure the absolute central deection while the other at the level of the hydraulic
jack denoted as G20 used to measure the relative distance
travelled by the loading system.

5.2. Strains in the CFRP sheets

Electrical resistance (foil) strain gauges were used to
monitor the longitudinal strain in the CFRP sheets. These

Table 3
Summary of test instrumentation
Beam

RR1
RR2
RR3
RR4
RR5
RR6

Strain in Strain in
CFRP
exterior
straps
CFRP
layer

Embedded Interface Deection Load

bre optic slip
cells
strain
sensors

G1G4
G1G4
G1G4
G1G4

G11G13
G11G13
G11G14 G15G16
G11G14 G15G16

G17G18
G17G18
G17G18
G17G18

G19G20
G19G20
G19G20
G19G20
G19G20
G19G20

G21G23
G21G23
G21G23
G21G23
G21G23
G21G23

Fig. 4. LVDT for interface slip monitoring located at both ends of CFRP
sheets.

R. Al-Amery, R. Al-Mahaidi / Composite Structures 75 (2006) 457464

461

and RR2. The ductile behaviour of beam RR2 is quite

evident when compared with beam RR1.

5.6. Load cells

Three load cells denoted as G21, G22 and G23 were
located at the point of loading and at each support point
in order to monitor the symmetry of load application.

6.3. Beam RR3

This beam was tested with four points bending over a

simply supported span of 2300 mm and a shear span of
700 mm. As expected, this beam failed in shear with a
typical shear crack occurring within the shear span.

This beam was provided with three layers of CFRP

sheets and no straps. It was tested under three point bending over a simply supported span of 2400 mm. The load
deection curve for this beam is shown in Fig. 6 showing
a non-ductile behaviour due to shear failure. In comparison with test beam RR1, a similar shear failure load is
obtained which is about 50 kN. The exural capacity
increased by 62% over the capacity of beam RR1. The reason for changing the loading criteria from four to three
point bending is to increase the applied bending moment
for nearly similar shear load. From these results it can be
expected to have higher exural capacity if the shear failure
can be prevented by using external CFRP straps.

6.2. Beam RR2

6.4. Beams RR4RR6

This beam had one layer of CFRP shear straps applied

along the span at 200 mm c/c spacing. The overall behaviour is reasonably ductile as the beam exhibited a exural
mode of failure. The full exural capacity of the section
was mobilised with an increase in strength equal to 14%.
Fig. 5 shows the loaddeection response for beams RR1

These beams have coupled exuralshear retrotting

using CFRP straps and sheets. They were loaded in
three-point bending. The loaddeection curves for these
beams are shown Fig. 6. The response shows a reasonably
ductile behaviour. In comparison with test beam RR1, an
increase of 17% is achieved in shear strength with an

6. Test results and discussion

The test results which include failure loads, moments,
shear, and failure modes are summarised in Table 4. The
general behaviour of the beams is outlined below.
6.1. Beam RR1

Table 4
Summary of test results
Beam

Concrete compressive
strength, MPab

Total failure
load, kN

Applied
shear, kN

Applied
moment, kN m

% Increase in
shear capacity

% Increase in
moment capacity

Failure mode

RR1a
RR2
RR3
RR4
RR5
RR6

37.8
39.5
39.1
39.4
39.0
41.0

106.2
121.4
100.3
112.1
126.3
123.2

53.1
60.7
50.2
56.0
63.2
61.6

37.2
42.5
60.2
67.3
75.8
73.9

0
14.1
5.5
5.5
19.0
16.0

0
14.3
61.8
80.9
103.8
98.7

Shear
Flexure
Shear
Flexure (CFRP break)
Flexure (CFRP break)
Flexure (CFRP break)

a
b

Control beam.
Cylinder tests at the same age of the beam.

140
120

140
RR1

120

RR2

100

80

Load, kN

Load, kN

100

60
40

RR6

80
RR4

RR3

60

RR5

40

20

20
0

0
0

20

40

60

80

Midspan deflection, mm

Fig. 5. Loaddeection response of beams RR1 and RR2.

100

10

20

30

Mid-span deflection, mm

Fig. 6. Loaddeection response of beams RR3RR6.

40

R. Al-Amery, R. Al-Mahaidi / Composite Structures 75 (2006) 457464

140

RR5

120

RR6

100
Load, kN

average increase of 95% in exural strength. Failure in the

three beams was due to bre break at the maximum bending section. This demonstrates the achievement of full
mobilisation of the composite section strength. Fig. 7
shows the CFRP fracture near mid-span.
The slip between the concrete surface and the CFRP
sheets were monitored on both ends. During the test one
end of the CFRP sheets was clamped to the concrete section, using steel plates and rods, in order to force the failure
to the other side for close monitoring. Fig. 8 shows the variation of the maximum end slip values with the applied
load for test beams RR3RR6. From this gure it is evident that the test beam RR3, which was provided with
CFRP sheets only, exhibited much larger slip than the
other beams with CFRP straps.
Slip values are indicative of the loss of interaction
between the concrete and the CFRP sheets. The smaller
the slip the more interaction is gained. This can be noted
in the case of test beams RR4RR6. The variation of the
slip values with the load is of continuous form. This indicates that there are no signs of debonding failure. If it
occurs, debonding will introduce sudden increase in the
interface slip values (i.e., a discontinuity in the loadslip
curve).
Several modes of failure were observed. These included
shear failure (observed in test beams RR1 and RR3), exural failure (observed in test beams RR2) and exural failure with CFRP sheets fracture (observed in test beams
RR4RR6). The most common mode of failure, observed
in previous investigations is the early debonding of the
CFRP matrix from the concrete section [1820]. The use
of CFRP straps in the current test program led to the prevention of debonding failure and in turn caused a more
ductile behaviour. It also led to the full utilisation of the
CFRP tensile capacity. Fig. 7 shows a typical failure mode
where CFRP sheets ruptured at the maximum bending
region in beams RR4 and RR5.
The longitudinal strain in the CFRP sheets was monitored through foil strain gauges attached to the external
(third) layer in a number of positions. The strain values
along beam RR3 are plotted for various load levels in
Fig. 9. The strain level at failure is well below the capacity
of the CFRP sheets, as failure is occurred due to shear
cracking. This beam was not provided with CFRP straps.

80
RR3

60

RR4

40
20
0
0

0.5

1.5
2
Max end slip, mm

2.5

Fig. 8. Variation of maximum end slip with load.

9000
100 kN

8000
7000

Microstrain

462

6000

80 kN

5000
4000

60 kN

3000
40 kN

2000
1000

20 kN

0
0

200

400

600

800

Distance from support, mm

Fig. 9. Longitudinal strain in the third (outer) CFRP layer, beam RR3.

The strain values along beams RR5 and RR6 are plotted
for various load levels in Figs. 10 and 11, respectively. The
strain level at failure is nearly equal to the ultimate strain
values of the CFRP matrix. These beams failed due to fracture of the CFRP sheets at mid span.
In order to measure the interlayer longitudinal strain,
embedded bre optic strain gauges (G15 and G16) were used
in beams RR5 and RR6. These gauges were embedded
between layers during the wet lay up process of CFRP
sheets with a protective spring wire to secure them in position. Figs. 12 and 13 show the strain readings obtained for
the three layers of CFRP in beams RR5 and RR6, respectively. These are plotted up to a strain level of approxi-

Fig. 7. Fibre break at failure in test beams RR4 and RR5.

R. Al-Amery, R. Al-Mahaidi / Composite Structures 75 (2006) 457464

120

12000
120 kN

100

8000
100 kN
6000
4000
2000

Load, kN

10000

Microstrain

463

80

Layer 3

60

Layer 2

40

80 kN

20

60 kN
40 kN
20 kN

Layer 1

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Microstrain

0
0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Distance from support, mm

Fig. 13. Longitudinal strain through CFRP layers, beam RR6.

Fig. 10. Longitudinal strain in the third (outer) CFRP layer, beam RR5.

7. Conclusions
The following conclusions are drawn from this study:

12000
120 kN

Microstrain

10000
8000

100 kN

6000
4000

80 kN
60 kN
40 kN
20 kN

2000
0
0

200

400
600
800
Distance from support, mm

1000

1200

Fig. 11. Longitudinal strain in the third (outer) CFRP layer, beam RR6.

120
Layer 1
Layer 2

100

Load, kN

80

Layer 3

60
40
20
0
0

1000

2000

3000
Microstrain

4000

5000

6000

Fig. 12. Longitudinal strain through CFRP layers, beam RR5.

mately 5000 micro strains, as this was the strain range of

the bre optic sensors used. This gure clearly indicates
inter-layer variation in strain values. The strain in the rst
layer (closest to concrete sot) is 19% lower than that on
the outer third layer. The corresponding value for beam
RR6 is 25%. This behaviour may require the consideration
of variable strain across the CFRP matrix in the development of design equations.

Using CFRP straps enhances the shear strength of the

concrete beam and contributes, compositely with the
steel stirrups, to the shear resistance. This contribution
is evident at the stage following the initiation of cracks
in concrete.
The use of the CFRP straps prevents the occurrence of
debonding failure by providing an extra anchorage
mechanism for the CFRP sheets.
The use of the CFRP straps reduces the interface slip
between the CFRP sheets and the concrete section signicantly. A reduction to one tenth of the slip values
is obtained. This in turn enhances the composite action
between the concrete beam and the CFRP sheets leading
to almost full composite state.
An increase in exural strength of up to 95% is obtained
when using CFRP straps to anchor the CFRP sheets.
However, using CFRP sheets alone, an increase of
15% only was achieved.
The dominant mode of failure observed in the beams
with straps is a ductile exural failure with excessive
yielding of internal steel prior to the rupture of CFRP
sheets and crushing of the concrete.
The longitudinal strain in the layers of the CFRP varies
according to the number of layers allowing for dierential strain to exist within the total thickness of the CFRP
matrix. This conclusion is supported by the inter-layer
strain measurements in beams RR5 and RR6 using
embedded bre optic sensors.

Acknowledgements
The rst author acknowledges the nancial support provided to him by the Australian Department of Education,
Science and Training (DEST) under the Endeavour PostDoctoral Research Fellowships scheme. The support provided by the Department of Civil Engineering at Monash
University is gratefully acknowledged.

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R. Al-Amery, R. Al-Mahaidi / Composite Structures 75 (2006) 457464

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