Composite Structures 60 (2003) 197204

www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Design against cracking at openings in reinforced concrete

beams strengthened with composite sheets
H.A. Abdalla

a,*

, A.M. Torkey a, H.A. Haggag b, A.F. Abu-Amira

a
b

Structural Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt
Structural Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo 11321, Egypt

Abstract
Web openings in beams and girders occur quite often in practice to provide a convenient passage for utility ducts. Accommodating the environmental services in such a manner eliminates a signicant amount of dead space and results in a more compact and,
often, more economical design. However, introducing an opening into the web of a reinforced concrete beam causes local cracking
around the opening leading to reduction in stiness and capacity of the beam. In this paper the use of bre reinforced polymer
(FRP) sheets to strengthen the opening region is presented. Several design parameters are varied including opening width and depth,
and amount and conguration of the FRP sheets in the vicinity of the opening. The experimental program included testing of 10
reinforced concrete beams, ve of which were strengthened with FRP sheets around the opening, four were tested without
strengthening, and the remaining beam was solid without opening considered as a control beam. The eect of this strengthening
technique on deection, strain, cracking, and ultimate load is investigated.
2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The structural engineer is often confronted with the
problem of providing convenient passage for utility
services in reinforced concrete beams. In many cases, the
provision of openings in such beams gives rise to excessive stresses that may be detrimental unless properly
assessed and designed. Practical and experimental experiences have shown that, quite frequently, inclined
and vertical cracks develop at the corners of the opening
at the service load stage. Such cracks can seriously reduce the load-carrying capacity of the beam.
Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets are becoming
widely used in the strengthening of reinforced concrete
structures [17]. FRP composites oer excellent properties which are not available in the conventional
construction materials. In addition to their excellent
non-corrosive characteristics, FRP reinforcements have
high strength-to-weight ratio, good fatigue properties
and electro-magnetic resistance. The ease of handling
and application gives FRP sheets an advantage over the
traditional strengthening techniques. In this paper, re-

sults are presented of an experimental program carried

out to investigate the eciency of using FRP sheets in
preventing the local cracks around openings.
Several investigations [811] have been carried out on
reinforced concrete beams with openings to predict the
load deection response and the cracking and ultimate
behaviour of such beams. The major variables investigated included the horizontal location and the size of the
opening, and the steel reinforcement detailing around
the opening. Methods of analysis and design of reinforced concrete beams with openings were suggested.
In this research FRP sheets are investigated as a
strengthening technique to substitute the expected reduction in beam strength due to opening presence. Analytical procedures are developed to predict and design
against the several types of cracking that are likely to
occur in simply supported reinforced concrete beams
with rectangular openings. The eect of the amount and
arrangement of the FRP reinforcement around the
opening is studied.

2. Research signicance
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +20-2-520-0441; fax: +20-2-266-4015.

E-mail address: habdalla5@yahoo.com (H.A. Abdalla).

This paper provides the results of an experimental

program on using composite sheets to prevent local

0263-8223/03/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0263-8223(02)00305-7

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H.A. Abdalla et al. / Composite Structures 60 (2003) 197204

Nomenclature
Abw
Atw
bw
df
dt
Ef
fc0
ffe
ffu
hb
ht
Ib
It
R
tf

concrete web area of the bottom chord of an

opening
concrete web area of the top chord of an
opening
width of cross-section for the beam web
length of FRP sheet along the opening chord
eective depth of the top chord
elastic modulus of FRP in the principal ber
orientation
compressive strength of concrete cylinders
eective tensile stress of the FRP sheet in
direction of principal bers
ultimate tensile stress of the FRP sheet in
direction of principal bers
height of the bottom chord of an opening
height of the top chord of an opening
moment of inertia of bottom chord about its
centroidal axis
moment of inertia of top chord about its
centroidal axis
reduction factor for FRP stress
thickness of the FRP sheet or multiple of
sheets

cracks around openings in reinforced concrete beams.

Eect of dierent opening sizes and congurations of
the applied FRP sheets is examined. A simplied
method to design beams with openings strengthened
with FRPs is presented. Results of this experimental
program could be very useful in establishing design
guidelines and future code for structures reinforced with
FRP reinforcements.

3. Experimental program
In the experimental program of this research, tests
were conducted on reinforced concrete beams with
openings in the shear zone. The opening region was
strengthened by applying carbon ber reinforced polymer, CFRP, sheets to control the local cracks around
the opening. The beams were tested under two-point
loading to investigate their structural behavior. The
objectives of the experimental investigation were to determine: (1) the deection due to the applied load; (2)
the strain distribution in the vicinity of the opening; (3)
the cracking pattern; and (4) the ultimate strength and
mode of failure of concrete beams with openings
strengthened with FRP sheets.

V
Vb
Vct
Vft
Vrt
Vt
wfe
b
efe
efke
efu
emax
cf
qf

applied shear force

shear force carried by the bottom chord
shear force resisted by concrete in the top
chord
shear force resisted by FRP sheets in the top
chord
total shear force resisted by the top chord
shear force carried by the top chord
eective length of the FRP sheet
angle between the principal ber orientation
and longitudinal axis of the opening chord
eective FRP strain in the principal direction
of bers
characteristic value of the eective FRP
strain
ultimate tensile strain of the FRP sheet in
direction of principal bers
limiting value for the characteristic value of
the eective FRP strain
partial safety factor for FRP sheets; and
FRP reinforcement ratio

3.1. Material characteristics

The concrete used in the experimental program was
designed for a 28-day compressive strength of 40 MPa.
The percentage of ne aggregate to total aggregates was
35%. The watercement ratio was 0.5 with an aggregatecement ratio of 4.25, both by weight. Steel with nominal
yield strength of 400 MPa was used for the longitudinal
reinforcement. Stirrups of mild steel of 240 MPa nominal yield strength were provided.
Unidirectional CFRP fabrics were used for
strengthening the opening regions. The CFRP fabrics
came in rolls in widths of 305 or 610 mm. Table 1 illustrates the mechanical properties of the CFRP fabrics.
Epoxy-based impregnating resin was used to mount the
CFRP fabric reinforcement on the concrete beams. The
Table 1
Mechanical properties of CFRP fabrics
CFRP mechanical property

Value

Weight
Fabric design thickness

225 g/m2
0.13 mm (based on total area of
carbon bers)
3500 MPa
230 GPa
1.5%

Tensile strength of bers

Tensile modulus of elasticity
Elongation at break

H.A. Abdalla et al. / Composite Structures 60 (2003) 197204

tensile strength and elasticity modulus of the adhesive

are 30, and 3800 MPa, respectively [12].
3.2. Test setup
Tests were carried out on ten reinforced concrete
beam specimens, ve of which had an opening in the
shear zone strengthened with FRP sheets, four were
tested with un-strengthened openings, and the remaining
control specimen was solid without openings. The
beams with 100 mm  250 mm cross-section and 2000
mm clear span were simply supported and subjected to
two concentrated static loads. Schematic view of the test
set-up is shown in Fig. 1. The cross-section geometries
of the tested beams are shown in Fig. 2. Steel stirrups of
8 mm diameter were used at 150 mm spacing along the
beam length for all beams. Stirrups of U-shape were
used at the opening chords to replicate the actual case of
providing an opening in an existing concrete beam.
Openings in all the tested beams were placed 200 mm

199

away from support. FRP composites were applied to the

two sides of the beam around the opening, after
brushing, sandblasting, and cleaning to ensure suitable
substrata for bonding.
The details of the tested beams are shown in Table 2,
where the rst two characters of the beam identication
are the letters SB, RO, and UO denoting solid beam,
beam with CFRP reinforced opening, and beam with
un-reinforced opening, respectively; the third character
is a serial number of the beam in the experimental
program.
Testing was carried out in load control at a constant
load increment of 5 kN up to failure. The tested beams
were instrumented to measure the applied load, deection along the beam span, strains at the mid-span and
around the opening, and strains in the longitudinal steel
reinforcement.

4. Experimental results
Strains, deections, crack pattern, and crack widths
were recorded at each increment of loading up to failure.
The eect of dierent parameters on the structural behaviour of the tested beams was evaluated. These parameters include opening width and height, and amount
and arrangement of the FRP wrapping. The results of a
control solid beam are compared to those of beams with
strengthened or un-strengthened openings. Fig. 3(a)
shows the exural cracks propagated in the solid beam
SB1.
4.1. Behaviour of the un-strengthened beams
Beams UO7, UO8, UO9, and UO10 tested with unstrengthened openings experienced wide cracks at the

P/2

8 @150mm
250mm

h
w
2

200

100 mm

Sec 1-1

8 @150mm
at opening
250mm

Fig. 1. Schematic view of the test setup.

2 10
4 10
100 mm

Sec 2-2

(a)
2

P/2

FRP Wrapping

Sec 1
Sec 1
Sec 2
Configuration Configuration Configuration
Type F1&F2
Type F2
Type F1
(b)

Fig. 2. Details of the tested beams: (a) internal steel reinforcement and (b) types of external CFRP strengthening.

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H.A. Abdalla et al. / Composite Structures 60 (2003) 197204

Table 2
Characteristics of the tested beams and summary of test results
Specimen
SB1
RO2
RO3
RO4
RO5
RO6
UO7
UO8
UO9
UO10



Dimensions of opening
W (mm)

H (mm)

Concrete strength
fcu (MPa)

NA
100
200
300
300
300
100
200
300
300

NA
100
100
100
150
150
100
100
100
150

49
52
49
51
49
49
43
49
52
42

Conguration of
CFRP strengthening

Cracking load
Pcr (kN)

Ultimate load
Pu (kN)

Mode of failure

NA
Type
Type
Type
Type
Type
NA
NA
NA
NA

30
25
20
20
15
20
25
13
20
5

83
86
73
62
35
34
41
43
41
22

Flexure at mid-span
Flexure at mid-span
Flexure at mid-span
Shear at opening
Shear at opening
Shear at opening
Shear at opening
Shear at opening
Shear at opening
Shear at opening

1
1
1
1
2

NA denotes not applicable.

Refer to Fig. 2(b) for types of strengthening conguration.

Fig. 3. Crack pattern of the tested beams: (a) solid beam SB1, (b) beam UO10, (c) beam RO5 and (d) beam RO6.

opening zone in addition to the exural cracks propagated at the beam mid-span. The mode of failure of
these beams was typically due to shear at the opening
region as shown in Fig. 3(b) for beam UO10. The loaddeection behaviour of the tested beams with unstrengthened openings is shown in Fig. 4. Deection
response of the control solid beam is shown in the same
gure for comparison purposes. The results show that
having an opening in the shear zone signicantly decreases the ultimate capacity of the beam. The maximum
load carried by the beams with openings of height 100
mm (0.4 of the beam depth) was less than 50% of the
maximum load of the control solid beam. Increasing the
opening height to 150 mm (0.6 of the beam depth) had
the eect of decreasing the maximum load to 25% of
that of the solid beam. Fig. 4 shows also that increasing
the opening width for the same opening height has a
minor eect on the beam deection especially before

Fig. 4. Load-deection behavior of beams with un-strengthened

openings.

cracking. This is true for the beams tested in this research where the opening widths were less than 1.2 the
beam depth. Comparing the results, it can be seen that

H.A. Abdalla et al. / Composite Structures 60 (2003) 197204

201

the opening height is the main parameter aecting the

load-deection behavior of beams with un-strengthened
openings.
4.2. Eect of strengthening the opening region
Beams RO2 and RO3 having strengthened openings
of widths 100 and 200 mm, respectively, failed by exure
at the mid-span while beams RO4, RO5, and RO6
having strengthened openings of width 300 mm failed by
shear at the opening chords, Fig. 3(c) and (d). The ultimate capacities of all the tested beams are shown in
Fig. 5. Comparing the results, it can be seen that the
CFRP wrapping of the concrete surface around the
opening signicantly increases the ultimate load capacity. The increase in the load capacity ranges between
50% for opening size 300  100 mm to 200% for opening
size 100  100 mm. It can be seen also from Fig. 5 that
beam RO2 with a strengthened opening of 100  100
had almost the same ultimate capacity of the solid
control beam. This indicates that for small openings, the
loss in capacity due to presence of an opening could be
fully retrieved by local wrapping of the concrete surface
around the opening. Comparing the results of RO5 and
RO6 having the same openings but dierent wrapping
conguration, it can be seen that strengthening the top
and bottom surfaces of the beam did not aect the ultimate load capacity. This may encourage the use of
wrapping conguration type 1 for strengthening of
openings in concrete beams with T-sections. Experimental tests should be done on T-beams with openings
strengthened using conguration type 1 to verify these
results.
The load-deection results of beams RO3 and UO8
having the same opening dimensions of 200  100 mm
are shown in Fig. 6(a). The load-deection response of
the solid control beam SB1 is shown in the same gure
for comparison purposes. It can be seen from Fig. 6(a)
that strengthening the concrete around the opening

Fig. 6. Load-deection behavior of the tested beams: (a) opening

width 200 mm and (b) opening width 300 mm.

greatly enhances the deection behavior of concrete

beams with openings. Fig. 6(b) shows the load-deection
response of the beams with opening size 300  100. It
can be seen from the gure that strengthening the
opening region in this case increased the ultimate capacity of the beam with opening, and hence the maximum deection by more than 50%.

5. Analysis of results and discussion

Fig. 5. Load capacities of the tested beams.

Practical and experimental experiences [10,13] have

shown that, quite frequently, vertical and inclined cracks
develop at openings in reinforced concrete beams at four
critical locations, as shown in Fig. 7. These locations
are: (1) at opening corners close to the vertical loads due
to the framing action of the opening chords, (2) in the
opening chords due to the exural stresses resulting
from the secondary moments in these chords; (3) in the
tension chord due to the normal tensile stress in that
chord; and (4) in the opening chords due to shear. The
last type of cracking can trigger the complete collapse of
the beam. This was the mode of failure of all the beams
with un-strengthened openings in this research. The

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H.A. Abdalla et al. / Composite Structures 60 (2003) 197204

opening in an existing concrete beam. Consequently the

shear force resisted by the top chord, for instance, is
given by [1518]
Vrt Vct Vft

Fig. 7. Analysis of reinforced concrete beams with openings: (a) crack

pattern around opening and (b) free-body diagram of beam opening.

CFRP strengthening should be applied around the

opening such that the principal direction of the bres is
perpendicular to the direction of crack propagation. At
the opening corners, providing horizontal and vertical
strips of CFRP greatly controls cracking at location (1)
shown in Fig. 7(a). Providing longitudinal strips of
CFRP along the opening chords helps to resist the
tensile force, T , and the shear forces Vt and Vb in the
opening chords, and consequently, controls cracking at
locations (2), (3), and (4) in Fig. 7(a).
For reinforced concrete beams with openings, the
applied shear force at the opening, V , is carried by the
top and bottom chords by the forces Vt and Vb , respectively, as shown in Fig. 7(b). The shear force carried by
the bottom (tension) chord, Vb , can be estimated from
[14]
p
Abw Ib
Vb
p p
1
V
Abw Ib Atw It
in which Ib and It are the moments of inertia of bottom
and top chords about their centroidal axes, respectively;
Abw bw  hb area of the bottom web; Atw bw 
ht area of the top web. The shear force carried by the
top (compression) chord, Vt , is given by:
Vt V Vb

For concrete beams with strengthened openings, the

shear force carried by each chord should be resisted by
concrete and the CFRP sheets. The lateral steel reinforcement is neglected in the shear calculations since it is
assumed that there are no closed stirrups in each chord.
This is to replicate the actual case of providing an

in which Vrt is the shear force resisted by the top chord;

Vct is the shear force carried by concrete in the top chord;
and Vft is the shear force carried by the CFRP
strengthening sheet.
The shear contribution of the concrete in the top
chord can be expressed, in SI units, as [19]
1 p0
Vct
4
fc bw dt
6
in which fc0 is the cylindrical concrete compressive
strength; dt is the depth of the top chord, taken as 0.8ht
in this research. The contribution of the FRP sheets to
the shear capacity of the top chord may be computed, in
the Eurocode format [20], from [6,17,18]
efke
Vft 0:9
Ef qf bw dt sin b cos b
5
cf
where cf is the partial safety factor for FRP 1:2 for
CFRP; Ef is the elastic modulus of FRP in the principal
ber orientation; b is the angle between the principal
ber orientation and longitudinal axis of the opening
chord; qf FRP reinforcement ratio 2tf =bw ; tf is the
thickness of the FRP sheet or multiple sheets; efke is the
characteristic value of the eective FRP strain which can
be estimated from [6]
efke aefe 6 emax

in which a reduction factor 0:8; emax is the limiting

value for the characteristic eective FRP strain 0:005;
efe is the eective FRP strain in the principal direction of
ber, and is given by:
 02=3 0:56
f
efe 0:65 c
 10 3
7
Ef qf
where fc0 is in MPa, and Ef is in GPa in Eq. (7). The
shear capacities of the top and bottom chords were estimated using Eqs. (3)(7) for the beams with openings
tested in this research. The total shear resistance Vr for
both chords of each beam is shown in Table 3.
Khalifa et al. [15] expressed the eective FRP stress as
a fraction of the ultimate of the FRP strength with the
use of a reduction factor, R, depending on the type of
failure between the FRP laminates and the concrete.
According to this model, the contribution of the FRP
strengthening to shear capacity of an opening chord, the
top chord for instance, is estimated from:
Vft 0:9qf bwt dt Rffu sin b cos b

where ffu is the ultimate tensile stress of the FRP sheet in

direction of principal bers; and R is the reduction factor used to accommodate the expected types of failure.
These are: (a) shear cracking of concrete; (b) FRP sheet

H.A. Abdalla et al. / Composite Structures 60 (2003) 197204

203

Table 3
Shear capacities of the tested beams with strengthened openings
Specimen
RO2
RO3
RO4
RO5
RO6

Eurocode model [6,20]

Khalifa et al. model [15]

CSA-S806 [21]

Vc (kN)

Vf (kN)

Vr (kN)

Vf (kN)

Vr (kN)

Vf (kN)

Vr (kN)

Vexp (kN)

12.5
12.1
12.4
8.1
8.1

14.6
14.6
14.6
9.7
9.7

27.1
26.7
27.0
17.8
17.8

24.6
24.6
24.6
16.4
16.4

37.1
36.7
37.0
24.5
24.5

25.8
25.8
25.8
17.2
17.2

38.3
37.9
38.2
25.3
25.3

43.0
36.5
31.0
17.5
17.0

rupture; and (c) bond failure of the FRP sheet glued to

concrete. The reduction factor R is taken as the lowest
of the three values given by:
R

0:006
efu

R 0:778 1:218qf Ef 0:5622qf Ef

R

0:0042fc0 2=3 wfe

0:58
Ef tf efu df

9a
2

9b
9c

where efu is the ultimate tensile strain of FRP sheet in

direction of principal bers; Ef is the elastic modulus of
FRP in the principal ber orientation in GPa; df is the
FRP sheet length along the opening chord; wfe
effective FRP length df 2Le in case the sheets are
bonded to only the sides of the beam; wfe df Le in
case the sheets are bonded in the form of a U-jacket; and
Le is the eective bond length of the FRP sheet which is
given by:
Le

461
Ef tf 0:58

10

The shear capacities of the tested beams with openings

were estimated according to Eqs. (8)(10), as shown in
Table 3.
The Canadian Standards Association [21] gives a
simplied approach to estimate the eective FRP stress
as:
ffe Ef efe

11

in which the eective FRP strain, efe is equal to 0.004.

Hence the FRP stress given by (Rffu ) in Eq. (8) is replaced by the value of ffe given by Eq. (11). The shear
capacities of the tested beams were calculated according
to this model and presented in Table 3.
Comparing the results in Table 3, it can be seen that
the shear capacities estimated according to the Eurocode
model [6,20] are more conservative than those given by
other models, especially for beams RO4, RO5, and RO6
failed by shear at the opening chords. The shear failure
at the opening chords was a combination between the
shear cracking of concrete and bond failure of the FRP
sheet glued to concrete as shown in Fig. 8 for beam
RO4. In Table 3, the dierence between the shear resistance values and the experimental values for beams
RO2 and RO3 may be attributed to the mode of failure

Fig. 8. Shear failure of the opening chords of beam RO4.

which was due to exure at the mid-span of these beams.

This exural failure took place due to the small length of
the opening chords compared to their heights which
forces the opening chord to behave as a deep beam capable of carrying higher shear forces than those estimated for shallow beams.

6. Summary and conclusions

An experimental investigation on the behaviour and
strength of reinforced concrete beams with shear openings was carried out. The results of ten tested beams
were used to evaluate the eciency of using CFRP
sheets to control local cracks around openings and to
resist excessive shear stresses in the opening chords. The
ultimate shear capacities of the tested beams with
strengthened openings were compared to those estimated using dierent models available for shear
strengthening. Based on the results of this investigation,
the following conclusions can be made.
The presence of an un-strengthened opening in the
shear zone of a reinforced concrete beam signicantly
decreases its ultimate capacity. An un-strengthened
opening with height of 0.6 the beam depth may reduce
the beam capacity by 75%.
The application of CFRP sheets according to the
arrangement presented in this research greatly decreases
beam deection, controls cracks around opening, and
increases the ultimate capacity of the beam. The use of

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H.A. Abdalla et al. / Composite Structures 60 (2003) 197204

FRP sheets to strengthen the area around openings may

retrieve the full capacity of the beam for relatively small
openings.
The shear failure at the opening chords of strengthened openings occurs due to a combination of shear
cracking of concrete and bond failure of the FRP sheets
glued to the concrete.
A conservative design method based on shear
strengthening models available in the literature is presented in the research. This method can be used to estimate the shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams
having CFRP strengthened openings.

[8]

[9]

[10]
[11]

[12]
[13]

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