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Materials and Design 31 (2010) 13171324

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Flexural behavior of steel beams strengthened by carbon ber reinforced

polymer plates Three dimensional nite element simulation
M.H. Seleem, I.A. Sharaky, H.E.M. Sallam *
Materials Engineering Department, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 14 June 2009
Accepted 5 September 2009
Available online 10 September 2009
Keywords:
Adhesive bonding
Carbon ber reinforced polymer plates
Failure analysis
Finite element
Strengthening
Steelconcrete composite beams

a b s t r a c t
Debonding, as a mode of failure, is one of the major limitations when using externally bonded carbon
ber reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates in strengthening of steel beams. In this work, mode of failure
and exural behavior of both steel and steelconcrete composite beams strengthened by different
lengths of CFRP plates were numerically investigated. The effect of both splicing position (at mid-span
and near supports) and CFRP plate ends conguration were studied. Three dimensional nite element
analysis (3D FEA) was adopted to simulate the nonlinear behavior of these beams loaded under four point
bending conguration. The present numerical analysis assisted by previously valuable experimental
results found in the literature succeeded to predict the critical CFRP plate length at which, full efciency
of the adhesively bonded plate is achieved.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The adhesive bonding technique has been widely used in construction as an alternative to conventional joint techniques such
as bolting, welding, riveting and clamping and thus overcoming
the negative aspects associated with these techniques such as
the increase in permanent loads, difculty of movement and problems due to corrosion and fatigue [1]. The most popular use of
adhesive bonding in construction is in repairing and upgrading of
steel beams using carbon ber reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates
and/or sheets. These plates/sheets have high strength to weight ratios and excellent resistance to both corrosion and environmental
degradation. They are very exible, easy to handle during construction and can form all kinds of shapes [2].
The major application of the adhesive bonding technique has
been invoked in reinforced concrete structures because of the advanced knowledge gained through signicant research. In the
upgrading of metallic structures, this technique is not as widespread as in reinforced concrete structures because many associate
problems are still yet to be resolved. The weakest link in the plate
bonding of ber reinforced polymer (FRP) elements to a metallic
structure is the adhesive [3]. In adhesive bonding, the interfacial
stress concentration at the plate end has been known to be the
most detrimental feature. This is due to the discontinuity caused
by the abrupt termination of the plate. The governing parameters
controlling the stress concentration at the edges of the FRP strip
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 12 7335513.
E-mail address: hem_sallam@yahoo.com (H.E.M. Sallam).
0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2009.09.010

were investigated by Tounsi et al. [4]. Force transfer between CFRP

plates and steel takes place through bond at the interface between
the two materials, which is inuenced by several factors including
bonded length, types of ber and resin, surface preparation, thickness of adhesive and thickness of FRP laminate [510].
Spew llets and end tapers have been suggested for reducing
the stress concentration in the adhesive layer of retrotted beams
[11]. Dawood and Rizkalla [12] found that, for a given splice length,
the reverse tapered at the plate ends reduced signicantly the
shear stress at these locations. Schnerch and Rizkalla [7] studied
the possibility of splicing nite lengths of CFRP strips with an additional CFRP strip placed over the joint and wrapped with unidirectional sheets. The exural behavior of rolled steel beams
strengthened with adhesive-bonded CFRP plates of different
lengths was investigated by Lenwari et al. [13]. Two types of failure
modes were recorded depending on the length of the plate: plate
debonding in beams with short plates; and plate rupture at midspan in beams with long plates.
1.1. Statement of the problem
The major concern in adhesively bonding plates to the external
surface of steel beams is the premature debonding of such plates,
which is a unique mode of failure for the plated beams. This brittle
mode of failure is a result of the high shear and vertical normal
(peeling) stress concentrations arising at the edges of the bonded
CFRP plates. The present paper is devoted to understand the mechanism of debonding in adhesively bonded CFRP plates to steel and
steelconcrete composite beams. The effects of plate length and

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the presence of splices on the rst crack load, location of such rst
crack, and ultimate load of the strengthened beams were
investigated.
2. Numerical work
2.1. Finite element model
The general purpose nite element program ABAQUS was used
[14]. A three dimensional nite element (3D FE) model was developed to account for the geometric and the nonlinear material
behavior of steel and steelconcrete composite beams investigated
in the present work. Von Misses yield criterion was adopted in the
nonlinear analysis. Eight-node brick element (C3D8) was employed to model the concrete slab, steel beam, adhesive layer
and CFRP plate as recommended previously by Zhao and Li [15].
Different mesh sizes were used to test the convergence and to
get the appropriate accuracy of the numerical solution as veried
by the experimental results in the tolerable processing time [16].
2.2. Boundary conditions
All modeled beams were simply supported with roller support
at one side and hinged support at the other side. Two plates were
attached to the bottom ange of the steel beam to avoid stress concentration. One of the two plates was supported as a hinge and the
other was supported as a roller by applying the constraints along
the center line of these plates. The load was applied on two plates
attached to the top of the tested beams. The load was applied in
increments as static load following the automatic load control
scheme. The modied standard/static general method was used.
2.3. Materials modelling
Multi-linear stressstrain relationship was used to model concrete in compression. The stress increases gradually up to the ultimate compressive strength and eventually crushing failure occurs
at maximum strain of 0.003. In tension, the stressstrain curve for
concrete is approximately linear elastic up to the maximum tensile
strength. After this point, the concrete cracks and its strength decreases gradually down to zero [17]. The steel I-beam and steel
bars were modeled as a classical elastic plastic material with strain
hardening. A bilinear stressstrain relationship was used for steel
sections in both compression and tension. Steel bars in three
dimension (3D) continuum elements were dened as layers of uniformly spaced reinforcing bars with a constant thickness. The
stressstrain relation of the CFRP plate material is linear up to
failure.
Tensile fracture in brittle materials involves progressive microcracking, tortuous debonding and other processes of internal damage. These processes eventually coalesce into a geometrical
discontinuity that separates the material. Such a discontinuity is
called a crack. The discrete crack concept is the approach that reects the nal damaged state most closely. It models the crack directly via a displacementdiscontinuity in an interface element
that separates two solid elements. Unfortunately, the approach
does not t the nature of the nite element displacement method
and it is computationally more convenient to employ a smeared
crack concept. A smeared crack concept imagines the cracked solid
to be a continuum and permits a description in terms of stress
strain relations. However, here the converse drawback occurs,
since the underlying assumption of displacement continuity conicts with the realism of a discontinuity. There is no consensus
on the question of which type of approach should be preferred
[18]. A further complication is that the smeared crack concept itself

already offers a variety of possibilities, ranging from xed single to

xed multi-directional and rotating crack approaches. The smeared
crack model in ABAQUS/Standard uses concepts of oriented damaged elasticity (smeared cracking) and isotropic compressive plasticity to represent the inelastic behavior of concrete. It consists of
an isotropically hardening yield surface that is active when the
stress is dominantly compressive and an independent crack
detection surface that determines if a point fails by cracking. In
the present work, the smeared crack approach was invoked to
model the epoxy in the adhesive layer. The model assumed that
the direct stress across the crack is reduced gradually to zero as
the crack opens. The reduction in shear modulus due to epoxy
cracking was dened as a function of direct strain across the crack
in the shear retention model. The shear retention model states that
the shear stiffness of the opened cracks reduces linearly to zero as
the crack opening increases.
2.4. Simulated beams
The present study was carried out in three phases. In the rst
phase, the strengthened steelconcrete composite beams experimentally investigated by Dawood and Rizkalla [12] were simulated
to study the effect of splice length and end congurations of the
CFRP plates on the behavior of the strengthened beams. These
beams consisted of three strengthened steel composite beams
W12  30. Details of the experimentally tested beam [12] and its
present 3D FE modeling is shown in Fig. 1. A structural steel channel C9  15 with 3048 mm long was welded to the compression
ange of the tested beams instead of the reinforced concrete deck
[12]. The yield strength of the ange and the web were respectively
369 and 408 MPa. The three beams were strengthened at the bottom face of the tension ange with high modulus CFRP plates. The
dimensions of the CFRP plate were 4  100  4420 mm. The modulus of elasticity, tensile strength in longitudinal direction and
strain at break of CFRP plate were 450 GPa, 1540 MPa and 0.33%
respectively. The plate was butted at mid-span and joined using
a bonded CFRP splice plate of 100 mm width and 4 mm thickness.
The adhesive layer was Spabond 345. The three beams were classied according to the splice length and the end congurations. The
splice length of the rst beam, namely 400-S, and second beam,
namely 800-S, were respectively 400 mm and 800 mm. The cross
section of the main plate and the splice plates for the two beams
were square. The splice length of the third beam, namely 800-T2,
was 800 mm and the plate ends were tapered.
In the second phase, the strengthened steelconcrete composite
beam, IM-4.5-AB, experimentally investigated by Schnerch and
Rizkalla [7], was numerically simulated. Details of the experimentally tested beam [7] and its present idealization is shown in Fig. 2.
The beam was W12  30 with concrete slab of 840 mm width and
100 mm thickness. The yield strength of the ange and the web
were respectively 378 and 407 MPa. The beam was strengthened
by two CFRP strips. The dimensions of each strip were
3.2  73  4000 mm. The effectiveness of a spliced connection
was investigated by bonding two additional strips of 1000 mm
long at both sides of the main longitudinal strips. The two joints
were covered by additional 400 mm long splices from the same
type of the main strip as shown in Fig. 2. The properties of CFRP
plates were 1224 MPa tensile strength, 229 GPa tensile modulus
and ultimate elongation of 0.508%. The adhesive layer was Spabond 345.
The numerical analysis was extended to simulate the previous
beam in three cases. In the rst case, the splices at the two joints
were removed, namely B400NS. In the second case, the two additional strips at the two ends of the main strips were removed,
namely B400. Finally the effect of changing the length of the two
main strips was investigated. The lengths of the two main strips

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Steel channel
Steel I beam
Epoxy layer
CFRP plate

P/2

P/2
1600 mm

4420 mm
4572 mm

Fig. 1. Tested beam by Dawood and Rizkalla [12] and its present idealization.

Concrete slab
Steel I beam
Epoxy layer
CFRP plate
Epoxy layer
CFRP splice plate
P/2

1000 mm

400

400
1000

P/2

4000 mm
6550 mm

1000

Fig. 2. Tested beam by Schnerch and Rizkalla [7] and its present idealization.

were, 3500, 3000, 2500, and 2000 mm, for beams namely B350,
B300, B250, and B200, respectively.
In the third phase, three W100  17.2 rolled steel composite
beams strengthened with different lengths of CFRP plates were
numerically simulated. These beams were previously investigated
experimentally by Lenwari et al. [13]. Details of the experimentally
tested beam and its FE modeling is illustrated in Fig. 3. Steel plates
of 12.2 mm thickness and 200 mm width were welded to the top
anges of the steel beams to prevent compressive yielding [13].
The three beams were strengthened by two adjacent CFRP strips,
each with a 50 mm width and 1.4 mm thickness, of lengths 500,
650, and 1200 mm for each strip. The three strengthened beams
were denoted as B50, B65 and B120 respectively. The modulus of
elasticity of the steel I-beam, steel plate and adhesive layers were
respectively 200 GPa, 300 GPa and 2.75 GPa. The yield strength of
steel was 300 MPa and Poissons ratio of the adhesive was 0.35.
The CFRP plate was Sika CarboDur H514 with an average unidirectional elastic modulus of 300 GPa, ber breaking stress of

1400 MPa and tensile strength of 1800 MPa. The adhesive was a
two-part epoxy adhesive, SikaDur 30. The thickness of the adhesive
layer was 1 mm. Additional beams strengthened by different
lengths of CFRP strips, 1000 mm, 1150 mm, 1180 mm and
1300 mm were numerically simulated to study the effect of
bonded plate length on the debonding load. These beams were denoted respectively as B100, B115, B118 and B130.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Splicing in the constant moment region
The loaddeection curves obtained experimentally [12] and
those obtained numerically for the three beams, 400-S, 800-S,
and 800-T2, are linear up to failure due to the occurrence of debonding before yielding of steel. Table 1 shows a comparison between the experimental [12] and numerical values of stiffness

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Steel plate
Steel I beam
Epoxy layer
CFRP plate

P/2

P/2

150 mm

LPlate
1800 mm

Fig. 3. Tested beam by Lenwari et al. [13] and its present idealization.

Table 1
Experimental [12] and numerical results of strengthened beams.
Beam

Stiffness (kN/mm)

Stiffness ratio (FE/Exp.)

Exp. [12]

FE

400-S
800-S
800-T2

19.4
20.5
20.6

19.20
19.16
19.15

0.99
0.94
0.93

and debonding loads for the three beams. For a given splice length,
the presence of the reverse tapered plate ends (beam 800-T2)
approximately doubled the capacity of the spliced connection.
Cut-off the main plate and the two ends of all splices were located inside the constant moment region which explains the small
effect of the splice length on the debonding loads of the strengthened beams. The numerical results showed that, the failure of all
investigated beams in this phase was due to sudden debonding
of the splice plates. The failure plane extended along the interface
between the CFRP splice and the CFRP main plate starting from one
end of the splice plate and extending to the center of the splice
joint. The debonded region continued along the interface between
the CFRP main plate and the tension ange of the steel beam which
is conrmed by the experimental observations [12].

Adhesive shear stress (MPa)

(a) Beam 800-S

20

Debonding loads ratio (FE/Exp.)

Exp. [12]

FE

180
205
424

188
208
442

1.04
1.02
1.04

The experimental [12] and the present numerical results of the

shear stress distribution in the adhesive layer, between the splice
plate and the main plate, for beams 800-S and 800-T2 are shown
in Fig. 4. The shear stress values in Fig. 4 were obtained at applied
loads corresponding to experimentally measured failure loads of
the two beams. The shear stress in the epoxy layer is high at the
two ends of splice plate. On moving towards the middle of the
splice plate, the shear stress decreases before it increases again
near the middle of splice plate, i.e. cut off location of the main
plate. The shear stress values at the middle of the splice plate for
the two beams are still less than those at its two ends.
The distribution of shear stress supports the failure mode which
agrees with the experimental results [12]. Dawood and Rizkalla
[12] reported that, modifying the geometry at the two ends of

60

60
40

Debonding loads (kN)

Adhesive fillet

40

Splice plate

End of adhesive

20

-20

-20

CFRP plate end

-40
-60
600

Experimental [12]
The present FEA
400 200

-40

-60
-200 -400 -600
600

(b) Beam 800-T2

400 200

Distance from beam midspan, mm

Fig. 4. Shear stress distributions for beams 800-S and 800-T2.

-200 -400 -600

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Adhesive shear strain

0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01

0.05

(a) Beam 800-S

0.02
0.01

splice plate

-0.01
-0.02

-0.01
-0.02

-0.03
-0.04

C-C
C-S

-0.05
-600 -400 -200

(b) Beam 800-T2

0.04
0.03

200 400 600

-0.03
-0.04
-0.05
-600 -400 -200

200 400 600

Distance from beam midspan, mm

Fig. 5. Shear strain distributions for beams (a) 800-S and (b) 800-T2.

As mentioned before, the present work was extended to simulate the behavior of the strengthened beam in the absence of the
splice (beam B400NS). Furthermore, the additional strips at the
two ends of the main CFRP strips were removed (beam B400). As
expected, there is no difference in the loads of crack initiation at
mid-span, i.e. intermediate debonding. However, the ultimate
loads of the two beams are lower than those of the beam IM-4.5AB, see Table 2. Removing the splice allows the growth of intermediate debonding to make a complete debonding failure as shown in
Fig. 7. This means that, the additional strips have no effect without
splicing. This effect of bonded CFRP plate length on the ultimate
load was explored by simulating the previous beam when
strengthened by different other bonded plate lengths ranges from

500
400

Applied load, kN

the bonded plate would signicantly increase the bond strength of

the adhesive. The increase in the observed maximum shear stress
for beam 800-T2 is possibly due to a localized discontinuity in
the adhesive which affected the strain locally at the location of
the gauges. However, the present numerical results gave another
acceptable explanation that is the shear stress decreases at the
two ends of the splice plate at the extension of the adhesive layer
(beam 800-T2), while the experimental work [12] recoded maximum shear stress at the two ends of the splice plate, see Fig. 4b.
The absolute value of shear stresses predicted numerically at the
two ends of the splice plate for the two beams (800-S and 800T2) are the same, while the difference between the corresponding
absolute values measured experimentally for beam 800-T2 is
greater than 40%. Therefore, reverse tapered plate ends do not suffer from the peak shear stress, i.e. favorite site of crack initiation
debonding.
The ultimate load calculated analytically for beam 800-T2 when
strengthened with continuous CFRP plate, i.e. without cut-off, is
equal to 598 kN [12], while the ultimate load determined numerically for the unstrengthened beam is equal to 395 kN. The ratios of
the ultimate load of beam 800-T2 to those of the unstrengthened
beam and the beam strengthened by CFRP plate without cut-off
are 1.12 and 0.74 respectively. Thus the splice with its best end
congurations does not give a pronounced enhancement in the
efciency of the strengthened beam and so it is not recommended
to make cut-off in the CFRP plate at the constant moment region.
The shear strain distributions in the two adhesive layers, i.e. between the main plate and splice plate (CC) and between the main
plate and the bottom of the tension ange (CS) were calculated
numerically as shown in Fig. 5. It was found that, the shear strains
in the epoxy layer along the length of the splice plates between the
main and splice plates are higher than those between the main
plates and the bottom of the tension ange. This ensures that,
the site of debonding crack initiation is located at the two ends
of the splice plate rather than at the main plate cut-off.

300
200
Experimental[7]
FEA [present work]
Analytical [7]
FEA [Present work]

100
0

20

40

60

100

120

140

160

180

200

Midspan vertical deflection, mm

Fig. 6. Load deection behavior of beams IM-4.5-AB and its CB.

Table 2
Numerical results of strengthened beams by different plate lengths.
Beam

LCFRP (mm)

PCI
(kN)

Location of 1st
crack

PC-Deb
(kN)

PCI/PC-Deb

IM-4.5-AB

4000 + (2 
1000 + splice)
4000 + 2  1000
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000

162

Mid-span

455a

0.356

162
162
162
162
154
130

Mid-span
Mid-span
Mid-span
Plate end
Plate end
Plate end

426
410
370
264
230
168.3

0.38
0.39
0.437
0.613
0.67
0.77

3.2. Splicing near supports

The loaddeection curves for beam IM-4.5-AB and its control
beam (CB), i.e. unstrengthened beam, are shown in Fig. 6. The
experimental and numerical results indicate that, the nal failure
is due to CFRP plate rupture. It is clear that, the experimental [7]
and numerical results are approximately identical up to the ultimate load. The experimental test was continued until crushing of
concrete (control beam), while the numerical program was terminated after rupture of CFRP strips.

80

IM-4.5-AB
IM-4.5-AB
CB
CB

B400NS
B400
B350
B300
B250
B200

a
Failure due to rupture of CFRP plate at mid-span without occurrence of complete debonding.

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M.H. Seleem et al. / Materials and Design 31 (2010) 13171324

lengths in these beams, Li, were normalized by the plate length

of beam IM-4.5-AB, LCFRP-cut. The relation between PC-Deb/PCFRP-cut
and Li/LCFRP-cut is linear and extrapolated to PC-Deb/PCFRP-cut equals
1 at Li/LCFRP-cut equals 0.722. This means that, the critical bonded
plate length, LCr, at which the mode of failure changes from complete debonding failure to failure due to CFRP plate rupture, is
equal to 4336 mm. Then, the values of PC-Deb/PCFRP-cut were drawn
against Li/LCr as shown in Fig 8. It is clear from the gure that, the
complete debonding loads for plated beams with Li/LCr less than 0.8
are lower than the ultimate load of the control beam (Pult-CB), i.e.
unstrengthened beam. Unfortunately, these numerical ndings
have no experimental evidence. Therefore, the next section will
simulate the effect of plate length on the ultimate loads of
strengthened beams experimentally investigated by Lenwari et
al. [13].
3.3. Comparison between the numerical and experimental study on the
effect of bonded plate length

Fig. 7. Development of intermediate debonding in beam B400NS.

2000 to 3500 mm. The rst crack debonding load, PCI, and the load
at complete debonding, PC-Deb, for all simulated beams are listed in
Table 2. For plate length greater than 3000 mm, the site of debonding crack initiation is located at the mid-span of the beam at the
same load, i.e. 162 kN. For plated beam with plate length equals
3000 mm, the site of debonding crack initiation was observed at
the plate ends at the same previous load, see Table 2. The load of
debonding crack initiation decreases with decreasing the plate
length below 3000 mm. The numerical results also indicate that
the complete debonding load decreases with decreasing the plate
length.
To predict the critical length of CFRP plate at which the mode of
failure changes from complete debonding to CFRP plate rupture,
the applied loads at complete debonding, PC-Deb, were normalized
by the ultimate load of beam IM-4.5-AB, PCFRP-cut, and the plate

1.2

P Ult-CB / P CFRP-cut

160

0.8
Applied load, kN

PC-Deb/PCFRP-cut

Fig. 9 shows comparison between the experimental [13] and the

present 3D FE results of loaddeection curves for the strengthened beams. The loaddeection curves of the control beam (CB)
predicted by 2D FE [13] and the present 3D FE are also shown in
the gure. There is close agreement between the present numerical
and the experimental results [13]. The strengthened beam with
plate length of 1200 mm (beam B120-1), failed due to CFRP plate
rupture at applied load equals 143 kN [13], while according to
the present work this load is 127.6 kN. The following clarication
may explain the difference between them. The mechanical properties of the CFRP plate reported by Lenwari et al. [13] are; modulus
of elasticity equals 300 GPa, ber breaking stress equals 1400 MPa
and tensile strength equals 1800 MPa, i.e. the ultimate tensile
microstrain is less than or equal to 6000. These values were used
in the present FE analysis. However, the measured CFRP plate
microstrain at the ultimate load of 143 kN is greater than 7000,
see Fig. 13 in Ref. [13].
On the other hand, the beams strengthened by CFRP plate
length of 650 mm (beam B65-1 and B65-2), and those strengthened by CFRP plate length of 500 mm (beam B50-1 and B50-2)
failed due to plate end debonding. Beams B65-1 and B65-2 failed
at applied loads equal 98.5 and 105.9 kN respectively [13], while
this load from the present simulation is equal to 98.8 kN. Beams
B50-1 and B50-2 failed at applied loads of 90.2 and 93.7 kN [13],
while this load from the present simulation is equal to 90.9 kN.
This means that, the 3D FE method is an accurate method to predict the debonding loads. The numerical results for all investigated
beams in this phase are given in Table 3. The procedures used to
construct Fig. 8, were again followed to construct Fig. 10 using
the numerical results given in Table 3.

0.6
0.4
0.2

120

80
2D-FEA [13]
FEA [present work]
Experimental [13]
FEA [present work]
Experimental [13]
FEA [Present work]

40

0
0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Li/ LCr

CB
CB
B120-1
B120-1
B65-1
B65-1

0
05

10

15

20

25

Midspan vertical deflection, mm

Fig. 8. Effect of plate length on the debonding load for tested beam by Schnerch and
Rizkalla [7].

Fig. 9. Loaddeection behavior of beams B120-1 and B65-1.

30

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Comparison between the CFRP longitudinal strain recorded in

beams B120 and B50 by Lenwari et al. [13] as a function of the distance x from the CFRP plate end for different load levels and those
predicted by the present 3D FEA is shown in Fig. 11. This gure reveals several points of interest. The present FEA follows the experimental data of beam B120, beam failed due to CFRP plate rapture,
quite well specially near the plate end at the high load levels. As
known, the tensile stress in the bonded plate starts from zero at
the two ends of the plate. Lenwari et al. [13] extrapolated their
measurements to zero at the plate end. On the other hand, Colombi
and Poggi [10] found that the longitudinal stress near the plate end
(4 mm from the plate end) is greater than 10 MPa. Recently, Pellegrino et al. [19] compared the experimental results [10,13] with
either their nonlinear analytical results or the results obtained
from the linear analytical model proposed by Tljsten [20]. They
[19] found that, their model is applicable to predict the stress distribution in the CFRP especially after steel yielding. However, Tljsten model [20] predicted well the stress distribution near the
plate end. Therefore, there is a region near the plate ends at which
the distribution of stress is very steep. In the case of strengthened
beam that failed due to plate end debonding (beam B50), the decrease in the development of longitudinal stress near the plate
ends (experimental evidence) or in the magnitude of the stress itself (numerical evidence) is due to the formation of the cracks in
the adhesive layer, see Fig. 11a.
The present numerical results showed that, the shear stress at
the plate cut-off is dominant. In general, it is impossible to initiate
a debonding crack at the plate cut-off under pure mode II. Due to
the presence of combined stresses at the plate cut-off, the crack
will initiate through the adhesive materials with inclined angle
perpendicular to the direction of tensile principle stress, i.e. mode
I, to reach the beamadhesive interface. For all simulated beams,
the cracks initiate at approximately principle stress equals
38 MPa. At this instant, the effect of peeling stress is dominating
and the crack propagates parallel to the beam soft when the mode
I stress intensity factor reaches the fracture toughness of the adhesive materials. In the case of CFRP plate length equal to 1200 and
1300 mm, the debonding cracks start at the plate ends beneath
the web at applied loads equal to 91 and 103 kN respectively at
which the maximum principle stress reaches the tensile strength
of the adhesive materials. The crack initiation angles of these
cracks are perpendicular to the maximum principle stress, after
that, the measured stress near the smeared crack front decreases
to a level not enough to cause further crack extension, i.e. initiated
but not propagated crack. In such cases the stresses in the adhesive
layer in the constant moment region increase to cause intermediate debonding, see Fig. 12. It is clear that the intermediate debond-

LCFRP
(mm)

PCI
(kN)

Location of 1st
crack

PC-Deb
(kN)

Causes of nal
failure

B50
B65
B100
B115
B118
B120
B130

500
650
1000
1150
1180
1200
1300

55
55
79
91
91
91
103

Plate end
Plate end
Mid-span
Mid-span
Mid-span
Mid-span
Mid-span

90.9
98.8
115
124
126.8
127.6a
127.6a

Debonding
Debonding
Debonding
Debonding
Debonding
CFRP rupture
CFRP rupture

a
Failure due to rupture of CFRP plate at mid-span without occurrence of complete debonding.

1.2

PC-Deb/PCFRP-cut

P Ult-CB / P CFRP-cut

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Li/ LCr
Fig. 10. Effect of plate length on the debonding load for tested beam by Lenwari
et al. [13].

2000

(a) Beam B 50

1750
1500
1250
1000

1500

25
50
80
92

750
500
250

(b) Beam B 120

1750

P, kN

2000

Present 3D FEA
Exp. [13]

CFRP longitudinal micro-strain

The ratio Li/LCr for the beams investigated in this phase is equal
to 0.32. There is a large difference between this ratio and that obtained in the case of Schnerch and Rizkalla [7], Li/LCr = 0.8. It is
worth to mention that, the shear span to depth ratio in the case
of Lenwari et al. [13] beams (steel beams) is equal to 7.35, while
this ratio in the case of Schnerch and Rizkalla [7] beams is equal
to 6.53 (steelconcrete composite beams). This means that, the ratio Li/LCr is not only depending on shear span depth ratio but also
depends on several factors including, type of steel beam, shear
span to total span ratio, stiffness ratio of bonded plate to the original beam, loading congurations, plate widths, thickness and
mechanical properties.

1250
1000

25

750

50

500

80
120

250

P, kN

Beam

Present 3D FEA
Exp. [13]

Table 3
Numerical results of strengthened beams by different plates lengths.

0
0

50

100

150

200

250

50

100

150

200

250

Distance from the plate end, mm

Fig. 11. Development of tensile longitudinal strain in CFRP plates: (a) Beam B50 and (b) Beam B120.

Author's personal copy

1324

M.H. Seleem et al. / Materials and Design 31 (2010) 13171324

Cracked area

Uncracked area
P = 103 kN

Beam mid span

P = 127.6 kN

To plate end

Fig. 12. Development of intermediate debonding cracks in beam B120.

Debonded area
Bonded area
CFRP plate width
CFRP plate length direction

P = 91 kN
(Failure)
P = 67 kN
P = 60 kN
P = 55 kN
CFRP plate edge
Fig. 13. Development of edge debonding failure in beam B50.

ing area is similar to the crack front of a fatigue crack, i.e. thumbnail shape [21]. With further increase in the applied load, the tensile strain in the CFRP plate at the mid-span of the beam is reached,
i.e. beam failure due to rupture in the CFRP plate.
For the shorter CFRP plates, the mode of failure changes from
initiated but not propagated debonding crack to unstable crack
growth at the plate ends, i.e. failure due to edge debonding. In
these cases, the site of crack initiation is still the same, i.e. at the
plate end beneath the web. However, further increase in the applied load increases the debonding area in two directions, i.e. plate
width direction and beam span direction. The growth of smeared
cracks in the plate width direction is faster than in the beam span
direction, see Fig. 13. This behavior is similar to the behavior of
surface cracks in metals under cyclic loading [21]. Finally, when
the debonding edge crack reaches the ends of the plate width, i.e.
through width crack, the crack will be severe and catastrophic failure will occur.
4. Conclusions
Based on the present numerical results, the following conclusions are drawn. Reverse tapered splice plate ends did not suffer
from the peak shear stress as the traditional one, so, this geometry
has a higher resistance to debonding failure. The growth of intermediate debonding leading to a complete debonding failure was
prevented by splices near the supports of the beam. The critical
CFRP plate length, at which the full efciency of the adhesively
bonded plate can be attained, was obtained for the investigated
beams. The development length of bonded CFRP plate, at which

the complete debonding load equals the ultimate load of the

unstrengthened beam, was predicted for the investigated beams.
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