CFRP strengthening of steel plate girders with web openings subjected to shear and bending.

The present study illustrates the effect of applying combined shear and bending loading on steel plate girders having web openings strengthened with CFRP wrap. Five steel plate girders have been tested under the above-mentioned action; one of these plate girders which can be considered as a control specimen has no web opening whereas the other four girders have openings of circular or square cut-outs. Strengthening by attaching CFRP sheets using a type of adhesives has been applied to two of the plate girders, one with square opening and the other with circular web opening. Web opening size is chosen to have a depth equal to 40% of the web depth. In comparison with the reference girders with openings, results have shown that the ultimate load of the strengthened plate girder containing square and circular web openings increased 63.6% and 52.6%, respectively.