Consumption of carbon fiber plates in the reinforced concrete beams strengthened with CFPs

Four-point bending flexural tests were conducted to one full-size reinforced concrete (RC) beam and three full-size RC beams strengthened with carbon fiber plates (CFPs). The experimental results showed that the consumption of CFP had significant effects on failure modes and the flexural capacity. An analytical procedure, based on the limit failure mode and ductility, was presented to predict the applied area of CFP. An analytical program, based on Smith-Teng model and Cheng-Teng model, was provided to calculate the bonding length of CFP. The test results are used to validate the proposed procedure. The results are also applied to the design and construction of RC beam strengthened with CFP.