Characteristics of the deflection behaviour of a slab reinforced by an externally bonded fibre-reinforced polymer

In this study, the deflection test was conducted on a non-strengthened specimen and six reinforced concrete slabs reinforced with a fibre-reinforced polymer adhesion, and the behavioural characteristics owing to the differences in the material properties were determined. The experimental variables were the reinforcing materials, the pre-loading and the level of reinforcement. After the test, the effective moment of inertia suggested by ACI-318 and the moment of inertia computed from the experimental results were compared. As the level of reinforcement increased, the strength of slab also increased. From the analysis of the application of pre-loading, the pre-loaded slab exhibited a higher yield load and ultimate load than the non-pre-loaded slab. It was found that the effective moment of inertia suggested by ACI-318 underestimates the moment of inertia of the slab reinforced with the fibre-reinforced polymer. © W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2015.