Longitudinal Partial Interaction in Bolted Side-Plated Reinforced Concrete Beams

Reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with bolted steel plates on their side faces are known as bolted side-plated (BSP) beams. The performance of BSP beams is closely related to the longitudinal partial interaction caused by the longitudinal slip on the plate-RC interface. In this study, an analytical model for the longitudinal slip and partial interaction was developed, and formulas for the BSP beams under several simple loading conditions were developed. The superposition principle was also proven applicable to the analysis of longitudinal slip, thus can be used to analyse the BSP beams under complicated loading conditions. The results of a previous numerical study were extracted to validate the analytical model, and an example was then presented to illustrate the applicability of the theoretical approach. This study enhances the understanding of the behaviour of BSP beams, and provides an approach to consider the influence of longitudinal partial interaction in the BSP strengthening design.