Analytical Study of the Long-Term Deflection in RC Beams & those strengthened with FRP

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) plates have gained popularity in the strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) members due to the high strength to weight ratio, the ease of installation and low maintenance costs compared to other systems such as steel plates. Also, external bonding of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) plate has been proven to be an effective method to strengthen and damage RC structures. However, not much attention has been given to the long-term behavioral aspects of FRP-strengthened RC members. It is difficult to accurately predict the long-term deflection, crack width and behavior of FRP-strengthened RC members. This study presents a method for predicting the deflections at any time of the service life of normal and high strength concrete structures, loaded at any age, creep coefficient and shrinkage strain and the participation of the compressive steel for RC beams, and for RC beams strengthened with FRP plates. The accurate prediction of deflections is a complex problem which requires the use of non-linear and time-dependent analytical methods. These methods are, in general, time consuming and require great effort[6-13]. However, at the design stage, simple but reliable methods which take into account the most important parameters influencing the long-term deflections may be very useful to adequately design the structure. For that purpose, many simplified methods have been developed [1-2-3-4-14]. Equations have been programmed to access the method combines the simplicity and accuracy and provides valuable information about the influence of each parameter on the increasing deflections with time. The analytical values are compared to the experimental results from some existing papers [8-9], and to the results obtained from ACI code [1]. It is found that the analytical method is in a good agreement with the experimental results from some existing papers [8-9].

Studying the Influence of the Distribution of Carbon Rods in the Sections of Reinforced Concrete Beams with Hybrid Reinforcement on their Flexural Behavior

The mixed use of steel bars and carbon rods in concrete beams can offer beams with different behaviour from that of steel reinforcement only. This paper studies the case of reinforcing concrete beams with two layers of bars, and the main para­meters investigated are the proportion and the distribution of carbon rods in the cross-section. Four groups containing 12 beams are tested, and each is reinforced with 4 bars located in two layers. The first group includes three control beams reinforced with steel bars, while the second includes three beams reinforced with carbon bars. Each of the third and fourth groups includes three beams reinforced with two steel bars and two carbon bars, whereas in the third group, steel bars are located above carbon ones, but in the fourth group, steel bars are located under carbon ones. Concrete beams reinforced with carbon rods in the second group exhibit a higher load carrying capacity and deflections, compared with other beams. However, the beams in the third and fourth groups have approximately the same load carrying capacity and the same behaviour up to the load level equal to 75% of their load carrying capacity. But after that, the beams in the fourth group become more deformed, compared with those of the third group.