article · Magazine of Concrete Research
Strengthening reinforced concrete beams commonly relies on laminated fibres, but issues such as fibre debonding, concrete cover dislocation, and high material costs present significant drawbacks. A proposed alternative technique combines durable stainless steel plate strips bonded over an engineered cementitious composite layer, linked to the beam flexural reinforcement via shear connectors. Experimental testing and numerical modelling evaluated variations in steel plate thickness, the presence of deformed steel bars in the composite layer, and three distinct strengthening configurations. Experimental findings demonstrated that this hybrid strengthening approach increased the ultimate load capacity of normal concrete beams by up to 156 per cent. Additionally, a three-dimensional finite-element model and an analytical formulation successfully predicted the structural flexural behaviour and ultimate load-bearing performance observed during laboratory testing.
Ageing or damaged concrete infrastructure frequently requires structural strengthening, yet conventional fibre-based repairs can fail prematurely through debonding or cover dislocation. Demonstrating an alternative method that substantially improves beam load capacity helps engineers address critical structural deficiencies while avoiding the failure risks and high material costs associated with standard laminated fibres.
The technique targets structural repair and rehabilitation for reinforced concrete infrastructure requiring enhanced load-bearing capacity. Potential users include civil engineering contractors and infrastructure maintenance specialists. Based on the abstract, the technology is at an applied and tested stage, having undergone laboratory-scale experimental testing, analytical modelling, and finite-element validation rather than full-scale commercial or field deployment.
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Strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) structures may be required for several reasons and flexural strengthening of normal concrete (NC) beams is widely carried out using laminated fibres. However, the incompatibility of the concrete cover can lead to fibre debonding or concrete cover dislocation. These are some of the critical setbacks in common practice and the cost of fibre can be high. A novel flexural strengthening technique for NC beams is thus proposed: durable strips of stainless steel plate (SSP) bonded over a engineered cementitious composite (ECC), which is in complete contact with the flexural reinforcement of a slave beam through shear connectors. The flexural behaviour of NC beams strengthened with ECC and SSP strips was investigated experimentally and numerically. Three variables were investigated: the thickness of the SSP, the ECC layer with or without deformed steel bars and three different strengthening techniques. The experimental results showed that hybrid ECC–SSP strengthening improved the ultimate capacity of the NC beams by as much as 156%. A three-dimensional finite-element model (FEM) was developed and validated using the experimental results. The FEM accurately predicted the experimentally observed flexural behaviour of the NC beams with hybrid ECC–SSP strengthening. An analytical model to predict the ultimate load of NC beams with hybrid ECC–SSP strengthening was also developed.
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DOI: 10.1680/jmacr.22.00127
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