STRENGTHENING OF THIN REINFORCED CONCRETE SLABS WITH COMPOSITE STRIPS

Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been successfully implemented to strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs improving their structural response to various loading schemes. The most utilized techniques are based on prefabricated FRP composite strips bonded to the tension side with adhesives or by bonding quasi-unidirectional fabrics made of carbon or glass fibres impregnated with polymeric resins. An extensive research program has been carried out at The Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services MO, by testing a number of thin reinforced concrete (RC) slabs strengthened with CFRP strips in different solutions, to characterize the structural response, identify the failure modes and evaluate the structural efficiency of this composite strengthening solution. The structural response has been evaluated through testing a number RC slabs under bending from transverse loading. The difference in structural behaviour of unstrengthened and strengthened slabs has been revealed on both loading bearing capacity and stiffness. The validity of experimental results has been checked by numerical modelling using ABAQUS software package.