INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

Volume 2, No 4, 2012
Copyright 2010 All rights reserved Integrated Publishing services
Research article ISSN 0976 4399

Application of GFRP on preloaded retrofitted beam for enhancement in

flexural strength
Kaushal Parikh1, C.D.Modhera2
1- Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics, Government Engineering College,
Surat 395001
2- Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics, Government Engineering College, Surat
395001
kbp1977@yahoo.co.in
doi:10.6088/ijcser.00202040006

ABSTRACT

Application of glass fiber reinforced polymer sheet was carried out on seventeen small scaled
beams. Out of seventeen beams two were control beams and fifteen were preloaded at 0%,
40% and 90% of control beam. The main experimental parameters include arrangement of
GFRP sheet, preload level at the time of strengthening and numbers of layers of GFRP.
Analytical investigation was also carried out by using finite element modeling arrangement of
FRP was evaluated by using ductility and toughness criteria. The results were indicated that
numbers and arrangement as well as preload level have more influence on the stiffness,
toughness and ductility of the strengthened beam, both at post cracking and post yielding
stage, than that on the yielding and flexural strength of strengthened beam.

Keywords: Reinforced concrete; numbers of GFRP; Preload level; Arrangement of GFRP;

Finite element modeling

1. Introduction

The traditional material used in the strengthening of concrete structures is steel. Because of
its drawbacks of low corrosion resistance and of handling problems involving excessive size
and weight, there is a need for the engineering community to look for alternatives. Due to
lightweight, high strength and good fatigue and corrosion properties, Fiber Reinforced
Plastics (FRP) have been intensively used in the repair and strengthening of aerospace
structures . Though the study of using FRP to strengthen reinforced concrete structures just
started in the 1990s, the technology is currently widely used.

Several studies have been conducted on the use of Glass or Carbon FRP sheets as flexural
strengthening reinforcement of concrete beams (see references). The researchers showed the
behavior in terms of load-deflection, load-strain, failure patterns and structural ductility. All
beams showed a considerable increase in ultimate load capacity (from 40 to 200%) with a
good energy absorption capability. To evaluate the flexural performance of the strengthened
members, it is necessary to study the flexural strength of FRP strengthened RC members at
different stages, such as pre-cracking, post-cracking and post-yielding. Also it has been found
that, debonding phenomenon is a major effect for the reduction on the flexural strength.
Hence there are certain need arise for the special arrangement of FRP on beam to delay
debonding effect and it behaves as per predicted failure.

No codes and standards have consistently taken the influence of preload level and effective
arrangement of FRP because there are not enough experimental data for investigating the
influence of the preload level on flexural performance. This paper presents an experimental

Received on March, 2012 Published on May 2012 1070

 Application of GFRP on Preloaded Retrofitted Beam for enhancement in Flexural Strength
Kaushal Parikh, C.D. Modhera

and analytical investigation to study the influence of preload level on ultimate strength of
GFRP-strengthened beams, numbers of layers of GFRP and effective arrangement of FRP.

2. Experimental program

In this work, 2 different sizes of beams having 15 GFRP strengthened RC beams and 2
control beams without strengthening were tested. The specimen details are summarized in
table 1.

Table 1: Specimen and Reinforcement Details

Sr. Size of Beam No. of Top Bottom Stirrups Detail
No. (mm) Specimen Reinforcement Reinforcement

B1. 150 x 150 x 700 10 2 8 mm 2 8 mm 8 90 mm c/c

B2. 200 x 200 x700 7 2 8 mm 2 8 mm + 8 130 mm c/c

1 10 mm

In all beams tensile reinforcement is used as 0.5%. The parameters considered in this research
work re preload level at the time of strengthening and effectiveness of new arrangement.
Specimens are labelled as beam no, preload level (00, 40 and 90 correspond to 0, 40% and
90% of flexural strength of the control beams respectively), and type of arrangement (T
means traditional arrangement and N means effective new arrangement). FL means full
length of single layer, RL means Reduced length (1/3 rd of Full) and RW means reduced
width (1/2 of full width). Traditional arrangement consist of three layer reduced length
arrangement means 1st layer is of full length (face of support to face of support), 2nd layer is
of 2/3 length of 1st layer and 3rd layer which is exposed to open air is 1/3 length of 1st layer.
New arrangement consists of three layer reduced length arrangement, 1st layer is of full
length, 2nd layer is of 2/3 length of 1st layer and 3rd layer which is exposed to open air is 1/3
length of 1st layer but, bent up to center line. The details of specimen labeling is shown in
table 2.

Table 2: Specimen labeling and Experimental Parameters

Size Specimen Arrangement Remark

150 x 150 x 700 B11C Control Beam

200 x 200 x 700 B21C ----

150 x 150 x 700 B1200T, B1340T, B1490T Traditional Initially strengthened

200 x 200 x 700 B2200T, B2340T, B2490T Arrangement beam, 40% Preloaded
and 90% Preloaded
150 x 150 x 700 B18FL, B19RL, B110RW ----- Initially Strengthened
150 x 150 x 700 B1200N, B1340N, B1490N Effective Initially strengthened
200 x 200 x 700 B2200N, B2340N, B2490N New beam, 40% Preloaded
arrangement and 90% Preloaded

Concrete with cube compressive strength is 31.6 MPa was used. The yielding strength of the
8 mm, 10 mm and 12 mm diameter bar were 556.9 MPa, 473.6 and 568.6 MPa respectively.
The properties of GFRP sheet of 1.5 mm sheet were provided by the manufacturer and had
ultimate tensile strength of 3400 MPa and Youngs modulas of 73000 MPa.
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 Application of GFRP on Preloaded Retrofitted Beam for enhancement in Flexural Strength
Kaushal Parikh, C.D. Modhera

Figure 1: Arrangement of Four point Bending

All beams were tested under four point bending. The arrangement of four point bending is
shown in figure 1. Load was applied by oil jack. The application of GFRP was used in
conjunction with epoxy sealer cum primer and high built epoxy saturant. Before the
application of primer on concrete surface, surfaces were neat and clean. The base and hardner
of primer were mixed in the bucket with the proportion of 100:13, as suggested by
manufacturer. After 24 hours application of primer the base and hardner of epoxy saturant
were mixed in the proportion of 100:90 and applied on application area. Prior cutted FRP
pressed by gloved hand on to the saturant applied area as per traditional or new arrangement.
Table 3 summarizes the test results and failure modes of test beam. Figure 2 (a) and (b)
shows the load-deflection curves of the two different sizes of B1 and B2 category. B11Cand
B21C are the control beam without strengthening. The behavior of these control beams
presents a typical flexural failure mode, which shows that the loading and testing scheme
used in this experiment are correct and reliable. Figure 3 shows failure pattern of tested
beams.

Figure 2(a) and 2(b): Load displacement response of Beam size 150 x 150 x 700 and 200
x 200 x 700
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 Application of GFRP on Preloaded Retrofitted Beam for enhancement in Flexural Strength
Kaushal Parikh, C.D. Modhera

Figure 3: Failure Photos of Beam B1340T, B19RL and B2500N

As shown in figure 4, three kinds of failure modes occurred on the GFRP strengthened
beams in these experiments. Flexural failure and GFRP rupture were the main failure mode
observed in the beam with effective new arrangement. These failure mode revealed that the
provided development length of GFRP sheet and shear capacity of the strengthened beams
are adequate. The author observed that the debonding of GFRP process can be separated into
an initiation phase and a debonding phase. During the initiation phase, secondary inclined
cracks occur at the toe of the critical flexural-shear cracks near the load point. When the
critical flexural-shear cracks reach a certain width and the interfacial bond stress exceeds a
certain value, a concrete wedge bounded by flexural-shear and the secondary inclined cracks
at the toe of intermediate flexural-shear crack was formed. The ending of the initiation phase
was followed by the process of debonding phase when debonding initiate between two point
loading specifically third layer of traditional arrangement. The GFRP debonding region at
first increased stably with each subsequent increment of load on the beam. Eventually the
GFRP debonding process suddenly runs along the remaining bonded length developed along
the remaining bonded length of GFRP laminates from the beam. The energy released by
unzipping is sufficient for dislodging the concrete cover wedges off the beam to reveal the
flexural reinforcement. Beam B1200T was initially strengthened with traditional arrangement
of GFRP sheet. The initial flexural crack load of this beam was almost the same as that of
beam B11C. However, the crack propagation and the final crack pattern of the beam greatly
different from that of beam B11C. Beam B11C had only a few flexural cracks with much
larger width, and beam B1200T had much more flexural cracks with smaller width. This
indicates that the propagation of cracks was confined by GFRP sheets. B1340T was
strengthened with three layer reduced length traditional arrangement with GFRP sheets and
the preload level was 40% of the beam B11C flexural strength. No discernible difference was
found in yielding strength but flexural strength was reduced slightly than B1200T
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 Application of GFRP on Preloaded Retrofitted Beam for enhancement in Flexural Strength
Kaushal Parikh, C.D. Modhera

Figure 4: Failure Pattern of Beams

Figure 5: Effect of Preload Level

B1490T was strengthened with same arrangement as B1200T and B1340T, but preload level
of 90% of B11C flexural strength. The load deflection curve follows almost B1200T and
B1340T and it is visualized that the ultimate strength was reduced slightly than B1200T,
though the maximum width of flexural cracks in the constant moment region at the time of
strengthening was much larger than that of B1200T and B1340T.

Figure 5 of load deflection curves of beam B1and B2 show the influence of preload level
on their flexural behavior. The ultimate strength and deflection of any beam strengthened
under different preload levels are close to or large than those of the initially strengthened
beam. This indicates that the flexural behavior of the beam strengthened under preload is
better than that of the initially strengthened beam.

The experimental program on effective new arrangement of GFRP consist three layer of
GFRP from which first layer is of full length, second layer of reduced length and third layer
of once again of reduced length but extended up to center line U shape. B1500N was
initially strengthened with new arrangement of GFRP sheet. In this beam flexure crack
shifted from constant moment region to sides, hence the contact between GFRP and concrete
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 Application of GFRP on Preloaded Retrofitted Beam for enhancement in Flexural Strength
Kaushal Parikh, C.D. Modhera

remains intact. Due to this debonding was not observed on the constant moment region. The
ultimate strength and deflection was reasonably increased compared to traditional
arrangement.

Figure 6: Effect of T and N arrangement

B1640N was strengthened with three layer reduced length new arrangement with GFRP
sheets and the preload level was 40% of the beam B11C flexural strength. No discernible
difference was found in yielding strength but flexural strength was reduced slightly than
B1200N, but flexural strength and ductility indices appreciably enhanced compared to
B1340T.

B1790N was strengthened with same arrangement as B1500N and B1640N, but preload level
of 90% of B11C flexural strength. The load deflection curve follows almost B1500N and
B1640N and it is visualized that the ultimate strength was reduced slightly than B1500N,
though the maximum width of flexural cracks in the constant moment region at the time of
strengthening was much larger than that of B1500N and B1640N. No discernible difference
was found in yielding strength but flexural strength was reduced slightly than B1500N, but
flexural strength and ductility indices appreciably enhanced compared to B1490T. Similar
kinds of results were obtained from all other sizes of beams. Figure 6 shows the effect of
arrangement for beam 2 and 1.

The experimental parameters of all beams are same; even numbers of layers are also same,
except that of T and N arrangement. Due to slight change in arrangement failure modes of the
beams with T and N arrangement are different. Concrete crushing occurs after flexural cracks
observed with N arrangement, because the total reinforcement of the beam including steel
reinforcement and GFRP sheets is close to over reinforcement. Although concrete crushing
occurs at the ultimate stage of almost all the beams, the trend of the influence of preload level
on flexural behavior is similar to T and N arrangement.

3. Finite element modelling

Three dimensional reinforced concrete elements and layered solid elements are used to
simulate the behavior of GFRP strengthened reinforced concrete beams. For reinforced
concrete, 3D brick element with eight to sixteen noded and three degree of freedom at each
node, translations in the nodal x, y and z direction is used, using ATENA 3D software. This
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 Application of GFRP on Preloaded Retrofitted Beam for enhancement in Flexural Strength
Kaushal Parikh, C.D. Modhera

element is capable for plastic deformation, creep, crushing in concrete and cracking in three
orthogonal directions at each integration point. Time-dependent nonlinearities (creep and
shrinkage) are not considered here. Moreover, brick elements simulate the nonlinear material
behavior with a discrete crack approach. When a principal stress at an integration point in a
concrete element exceeds the tensile strength, stiffness is reduced to zero in that principal
direction perpendicular to the cracked plane. FRP composites are modeled with shell element
having the same number of nodes and degrees of freedom as the concrete elements. Also
discrete modeling of reinforcement were carried out inform of reinforcing bars.

Table 3: Comparison of experimental and analytical results

Figure 7: Crack width pattern and variation of strain in beam B1200T and B1500N

Under uniaxial compression the concrete strain corresponding to the peak stress is usually
around the range of 0.002-0.003. A representative value is used in the analysis.

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 Application of GFRP on Preloaded Retrofitted Beam for enhancement in Flexural Strength
Kaushal Parikh, C.D. Modhera

The Poissons ratio of concrete under uniaxial compressive stress ranges from about 0.15-
0.22., with a representative value of 0.19 or 0.20 . In this study, the Poissons ratio of
concrete is assumed to be . The uniaxial tensile strength is difficult to measure
and the initial modulas of elasticity of concrete is highly correlated to its compressive
strength.
For this study, a representative value is taken as .
Taking advantage of symmetry of the beams, a half of the full-size beam is modeled to
reduce computational time and computer disk space requirements. Steel reinforcement is
simplified by ignoring inclined portions of the steel reinforcing bars in the test beams. Perfect
bond between steel and concrete is assumed. Here load is applied in terms of prescribed
deformation and get the loads corresponding to the deformation. Varying thicknesses from
different numbers of layers of the FRP composite create discontinuities, which are not
desirable for the FEA; therefore, a consistent thickness of GFRP composites is used in the
models to avoid discontinuities. Here Newton-Raphson method is used for solving the
simultaneous equations. It is an iterative process of solving the non-linear equations. One
approach to nonlinear solutions is to break the load into a series of load increments.
The load increments can be applied either over several load steps or over several sub steps
within a load step. At the completion of each incremental solution, the program adjusts
the stiffness matrix to reflect the nonlinear changes in structural stiffness before proceeding
to the next load increment. Figure 7 shows the modeled beam with T and N arrangement.

4. Results and discussion

An extensive correlation study between experimental study and finite element simulation has
been carried out to check the effectiveness of effective N arrangement. The post peak
response of the beam has been quantitatively evaluated in terms of the ductility indices and
toughness. As per Thomsen H. et al. (2004), two definitions of ductility are used, in this study

1. Displacement Based ductility = ratio of ultimate displacement to the displacement at

1st yielding of reinforcement
2. Energy based ductility = ratio of energy of system at failure to the energy of system at
first steel yield. Energy is area covered under Load displacement response.

The toughness is a qualitative measure of the energy absorbing characteristics of a structural

element and is a function of its load- displacement response. Table 3 provides the detail
comparison of test results and analytical results.

5. Conclusions

The experimental results and analytical investigations in this work led to the conclusions
below:

1. Beams with T arrangement debonding phenomenon were observed while most of

beams with N arrangement shift the flexural crack away from flexural region and
hence by delaying the debonding, flexural failure occurs and hence Beam retrofitted
with N arrangement proved a good solution of retrofitting beam.
2. It is seen that the failure mode of debonding of FRP, reduces the effectiveness of FRP
by not utilizing the strength of FRP.

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 Application of GFRP on Preloaded Retrofitted Beam for enhancement in Flexural Strength
Kaushal Parikh, C.D. Modhera

3. Flexural load carrying capacity initially strengthened beam with T arrangement of

FRP increases of 82% than control beam while 113% increases with initially
strengthened N arrangement.
4. Flexural load carrying capacity of retrofitted beam (preloaded of 40% of control
beam) with T arrangement of FRP increases of 80% than control beam while 104%
increases with N arrangement of FRP.
5. Flexural load carrying capacity of retrofitted beam (preloaded of 90% of control
beam) with T arrangement of FRP increases of 66% than control beam while 92%
increases with N arrangement of FRP.
6. It has been found that flexural strength of beam with N arrangement, increases 20%,
16% and 18% for initially strengthened beam, retrofitted beam (preloaded of 40% of
control beam) and retrofitted beam (preloaded of 90% of control beam) respectively
with respect to T arrangement.
7. As per ductility indices, beam with N arrangement of GFRP, proved a good solution
of retrofitting technique.
8. Toughness of beam increases with N arrangement 43%, 31% and 29% for initially
strengthened beam, retrofitted beam (preloaded of 40% of control beam) and
retrofitted beam (preloaded of 90% of control beam) respectively with respect toT
arrangement.
9. Flexural load increased by 19% for a beam strengthened with single layer of FRP of
full width, while 10% with reduced length of FRP (under two point load), and while
8% with reduced width of FRP (Half width of beam).
10. The variation in the result of ultimate load and deflaction between predicted
analytically and experimental values are not more than 5%. Also Failure mode is
remarkable compared.

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