FRCM Composites for the Structural Upgrading of Reinforced Concrete Shallow Beams

In the last decades, there has been an increment in the use of Fabric-Reinforced Cementitious Matric (FRCM) composites, in both the restoring and the upgrading of the load carrying capacity of existing structural elements. At the beginning, FRCMs were mainly applied on masonry buildings, while the recent literature documents growing interventions on Reinforced Concrete members. In the present work, the results of a series of bending tests on RC shallow beams, alternatively strengthened or retrofitted with the application of FRCM composites at the intrados, are reported. The effect of predamage conditions is also discussed. At the end, the estimation of the mechanical response by means of a simplified plane-sectional approach and a proposal for the evaluation of the crack spacing are reported in case of the FRCM-strengthened RC beam.