Flexural Behaviour of Concrete Beams Prestressed with CFRP Bars
摘要
Corrosion of steel reinforcement is a common threat to the reinforced concrete (RC) structures that are particularly exposed to the marine, aggressive and highly corrosive environment. Therefore, the development of new techniques and materials in order to overcome the reinforcement corrosion issues is imminent. As a result, the application of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars as flexural reinforcement has become a promising option in the past 20 years. It is well-established that CFRP bars have gained enormous popularity for their relevant material characteristics in terms of the excellent tensile strength, high strength to weight ratio, noncorrosive and nonmagnetic materials. CFRP bars are mostly used in prestressing applications due to their high tensile strength, which is comparable with steel strands. With these significant advantages, CFRP bars have attracted great interest to replace steel bars in RC structures. This paper presents the selected results of three-point bending tests carried out on high-strength concrete beams reinforced with prestressed CFRP bars. The study focused on the flexural behaviour of these beams in terms of load–deflection characteristics, load-carrying capacity, and modes of failure. Moreover, the tests’ results enabled verification of the design method of concrete beams reinforced with prestressed CFRP in terms of serviceability and ultimate limit states as well as to check the new prestressing method.