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SEISMIC RETROFITTING OF EXISTING

SUBSTANDARD RC MEMBERS UNDER REVERSED


CYCLIC FLEXURAL EFFECTS

SEMINAR REPORT
BY PRACHI TAORI
M. Tech
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
II Semester
17SE06001

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY


BHUBANESWAR
Seminar Report II Semester

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Many existing structures which were either constructed using poor construction practices or
were constructed before the seismic codes were properly designed need retrofitting to
enhance their flexural capacity so that they can withstand severe earthquakes. Carbon fiber
reinforced polymer (CFRP) is one of the materials that is widely popular in the field of
retrofitting because of its high tensile strength, lightweight and corrosion resisting
properties. CFRP can be used to enhance the flexural performance of reinforced concrete
(RC) members while causing minimum hindrance to the occupants or functioning of the
structure. In this study, flexural strength of reference and retrofitted members is investigated
experimentally and is further compared with the predicted analytical strength.

2.0 SPECIMEN DETAILS:


The study uses CFRP roads, laminates and sheets for retrofitting procedure. The geometric
and mechanical properties of the elements are as specified in table 1. Five similar RC
columns are constructed for testing program. The members are made of low grade concrete
and have inadequate shear reinforcement to resemble old structures. Three of the members
are retrofitted using CFRP elements and the remaining two are used for comparison and are
termed as reference specimens. Depending on the kind of CFRP element used for
longitudinal reinforcement and anchorage purpose the retrofitted specimens are given the
following abbreviations: RS, LS and RR; where the first letter denotes the kind of element
used for longitudinal reinforcement which could be either CFRP roads or laminates and the
second letter denotes the kind of element used for anchorage purpose which could be either
CFRP sheets or rods. All the retrofitted specimens are confined with CFRP sheets in
transverse direction to prevent failure in shear due to inadequate shear reinforcement.
Table 1 Geometric and mechanical properties of CFRP elements (C. Goksu(2012))

Ef Ultimate Ultimate stress


Components ϕ(mm) t (mm) w (mm)
(N∕mm²) strain (N∕mm²)

Rods 165,000 8 -- -- 0.015 2475

Pre-cured Laminates 165,000 -- 1.4 3.6 0.015 2475

Sheets 240,000 -- 0.117 300 0.015 3600

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Seminar Report II Semester

3.0 RETROFITTING PROCEDURE


First of all, the old concrete cover is removed and a layer of high strength mortar is applied
on the core concrete to strengthen it. Then holes are dug adjacent to the column member
from which FRP elements are erected which are kept in place using epoxy adhesive. This is
followed by application of another layer of high strength mortar to prevent buckling of FRP
elements and for better bonding between the FRP and core concrete. Finally the whole
specimen is covered with FRP sheets in transverse direction to prevent shear failure and to
enhance deformability. The retrofitting procedure can be seen from figure 1. For main
reinforcement, 8-mm diameter CFRP rods were placed symmetrically on the compression
and tension sides of the specimens RS and RR, embedded in an epoxy paste. For the
specimen LS, two pre-cured CFRP laminates of 1.4-mm thickness and 36-mm width were
placed symmetrically on each side. The tensile capacity of the CFRP sheet anchorages of
specimen RS was designed to be approximately two times the tensile capacity of the
longitudinal CFRP reinforcement to be anchored and hence four number of CFRP sheets
were cut into 1;400 × 250 mm pieces and were folded to obtain 700-mm long anchorage
reinforcement. Considering the poor performance of anchorages in case of specimen RS,
four additional anchorages were applied on the surfaces of specimen LS. Eight number of
CFRP rods were provided for anchorage in the RR specimen.

Figure 1 Retrofitting procedure (C. Goksu(2012))

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Seminar Report II Semester

4.0 TESTING PROCEDURE AND THEORETICAL CAPACITY


The specimens were tested under reversed cyclic lateral loads in a quasi-static displacement
controlled manner. The target displacements are set in terms of drift ratios of ±0.1, ±0.25,
±0.5, ±1, ±2, ±3, ±4, ±6, and ±8% in pushing and pulling directions. The calculation of the
lateral load capacities of reference and retrofitted specimens are carried out through
conventional reinforced concrete theory, like suggested by ACI440-2R-08 (ACI 2008) for
the CFRP strengthened beams.

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS


4.1 LATERAL LOAD DISPLACEMENT CURVES:

With From the lateral load displacement curves obtained for reference specimens it is seen
that failure takes places quite early at the drift ratio of about 1%. On retrofitting the
specimen using CFRP rods anchored with CFRP sheets to the support in the specimen RS
specimen, an enhancement in strength up to the drift ratio of 1.5% is seen following which
sudden loss in strength takes place due to the fracture of CFRP anchor sheets at the
interface of the member and the support. The imperfect impregnation and non-uniform
alignment of the fibers are deemed as the reasons for the premature damage of the CFRP
sheet anchors. To prevent this kind of pre-mature failure, the amount of anchorage sheets in
the specimen RS is doubled, despite that there is not much enhancement in performance as
the failure takes place at around 2% drift ratio. However the specimen RR that uses rods for
anchorage shows the lateral load carrying capacity up to 6% drift ratio and is able to resist
maximum lateral load i.e. 4.8 times that of reference specimens and 2.5% that of other
retrofitted specimens.

Figure 2 Lateral load displacement curves: retrofitted specimens (C. Goksu(2012))

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Seminar Report II Semester

Figure 3 Lateral load displacement curve: retrofitted specimens (C. Goksu(2012))

4.2 COMPARISON OF THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL CAPACITIES:

The theoretical flexural capacity was not reached in the case of specimens RS and LS, because
of premature failure of CFRP anchorage rolls at relatively early stages of loading. However the
specimen RR shows better performance as compared to that estimated theoretically. The
exceedence of the capacity is attributed to the contribution of CFRP anchor rods, used in the
form of starter bars at the maximum moment section. The comparison is shown in table 2.

Table no. 2: comparison of experimental and theoretical capacities (C. Goksu(2012))

SPECIMENS R1 RS LS RR

Theoretical capacity in KN(acc to ACI 2008) 12.80 51.38 50.61 51.38

Experimental capacity in KN 13.91 29.79 26.98 66.54

5.0 CONCLUSIONS

From the results obtained it is seen that the specimen RR is able to resist buckling and de-
bonding till 6% drift ratio is achieved, it could resist lateral loads 4.7 and 2.3 times that of the
reference and other retrofitted specimens, respectively. Hence the retrofitting using CFRP
rods could be employed for enhancing the lateral strength and ductility.

However, the one problem associated with the use of CFRP elements is the effectively
strengthened member does not exhibit a typically ductile behavior that is expected from a
typical RC member. Therefore, this issue should be considered carefully during flexural
strengthening of RC members with longitudinal CFRP reinforcement.

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Seminar Report II Semester

6.0 REFERENCES

Caglar Goksu, Alper Polat and Alper Ilki. (2012), “Attempt for Seismic Retrofit of Existing
substandard RC Members under Reversed Cyclic Flexural Effects”, Structural Engineering
Journal, ASCE, 16(3), 286-299

American Concrete Institute (ACI). (2008). “Guide for design and construction of externally
bonded FRP systems for strengthening concrete structures.” ACI 440.2R-08, Farmington Hills,
MI.

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