FRPRCS-9 Sydney, Australia

Monday 13 Wednesday 15 July 2009

ANCHORAGE DEVICES FOR FRP STRENGTHENING OF CONCRETE

STRUCTURES CLOSE TO BEAM-COLUMN JOINTS
L. Ascione

V.P. Berardi

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, via Ponte Don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano (SA),
Italy
Keywords: FRP materials, RC structures, Retrofitting, Flexural strengthening, Anchorage devices,
Beam-column joints.

INTRODUCTION

Fiber reinforced composite materials (FRP) are frequently used in the rehabilitation or upgrading of
reinforced concrete (RC) structures [1-2].
Within this context, several international guide-lines on the use of FRP in civil applications [3-6],
including the recently released Italian National Research Council regulatory document, have set some
standards for the production, design and application of these innovative materials for the
strengthening of RC structures.
Nevertheless, some of the more specific aspects of seismic applications have to be studied in
greater detail. One of these is represented by the FRP reinforcement of members subject to bending
moment and axial force, due to the need for suitable FRP anchorage devices close to beam-column
joints.
There are still only a few not conclusive studies currently available [7-9].
In this paper, the main features of a prototype device, proposed by the authors, and the results of
an experimental program are reported.
The tests are being performed at the Material and Structures Testing Laboratory of the
Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Salerno.

PROTOTYPE DEVICE

The proposed prototype consists of the following components, with reference to the flexural
strengthening of a RC member close to a beam-column intersection, (Fig. 1):
steel internal plate (placed into the concrete cover), whose upper side is aligned to the beam
extrados;
steel external plate;
steel counterplate;
chemical anchoring systems, consisting of a self-contained adhesive capsule and a threaded
rod;
steel threaded rods.
Device prototype details

Fig. 1 Prototype device.

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This mechanical device ensures:

the beam strengthening with the internal steel plate, close to the beam-column intersection,
through the punctual links, given by chemical anchoring systems, between the prototype and
the RC member;
the CFRP laminate anchoring;
the stress transmission from the CFRP reinforcement to beam-column joint through the steel
threaded rods and steel counterplate.

THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

The proposed prototype has been studied in order to verify its reliability, within the context of an
experimental campaign on the strengthened RC specimen of Fig. 2.
In detail, this specimen consists of a cantilever, subject to a transversal force, F, acting on the
cross-section close to the free end.

Fig. 2 RC specimen [dimensions in m].

The mechanical properties of the concrete and steel are summarized in Table 1 (concrete:
Youngs modulus of elasticity, Ec, characteristic compressive strength, fck, mean value of tensile
strength, fctm, ultimate strain in compression, cu; steel: Youngs modulus of elasticity, Es, yield
strength, fyk, design strain, sd).
Table 1
Concrete and steel rebars mechanical properties.
fck
fctm
Es
fyk
Ec
cu
sd
2
2
2
2
2
[N/mm ] [N/mm ]
[N/mm ] [N/mm ] [N/mm ]
28460.50
20.36
2.24
0.0035 205800.00 431.20
0.01
The flexural capacity of the RC unstrengthened beam assumes the value: Mu,0 = 39.27 kN m and
the failure mechanism is characterized by the steel failure.
The shear capacity of the beam is equal to: VRu = 92.98 kN.
3.1

Design of reinforcement system

The design of the strengthening system, consisting of the external reinforcement and the device
prototype, was carried out with the aim of increasing the flexural capacity of the RC beam by up to
100%, using a pultruded CFRP laminate.
More specifically, starting from the theoretical composite area, evaluated in accordance to CNRDT 200/2004 [6], the CFRP laminate and the resin, whose geometrical and mechanical properties are
summarized in Table 2 (CFRP: longitudinal Youngs modulus of elasticity, Ef, characteristic strength,

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Monday 13 Wednesday 15 July 2009

ffk, design strain, fd, width, bf, thickness, tf; resin: Youngs modulus of elasticity, Eg, shear strength,
gd), were chosen from those current available on the market.
Table 2
CFRP and resin geometrical and mechanical properties.
Ef
ffk
bf
tf
Eg
fd
gd
2
2
2
2
[N/mm ]
[N/mm ]
[mm]
[mm]
[N/mm ]
[N/mm ]
1.4
12800.00
15.00
210000.00 2800.00 0.0135 50.0
In order to avoid intermediate debonding, caused by flexural cracks, the confinement of the
strengthened RC cantilever was considered in accordance to CNR-DT 200/2004 [6]. In particular, two
layers of an unidirectional CFRP fabric (Fibers properties: longitudinal Youngs modulus of elasticity,
2
Efib = 230000.00 N/mm , nominal thickness, tfib = 0.13 mm) were assumed.
Therefore, the flexural capacity of the RC strengthened beam becomes equal to: Mu,1 = 91.78 kN m,
with the failure mechanism being characterized by the steel failure, even if the CFRP stress value is
less than its strength.
Once the type of external laminate had been defined, the device, assumed to be made of carbon
steel (Fe 510), was designed by adopting a simplifying approach, proposed by the authors, on the
basis of:
- the dimensions of the RC member and CFRP;
- the mean value of the interlaminar shear stress;
- the value of the axial force transmitted to beam-column intersection.
On the basis of the results of another study, carried out by the authors, on the adherence between
couples of steel plates bonded to CFRP laminate and bolted to each other (double lap bolted joint),
the sides of the device steel plates bonded to the composite were straightened and treated with a high
precision milling machine, in order to realize transversal teeth on the CFRP laminate.
These teeth, characterized by the value of depth and width equal to 0.2 and 0.6 mm, respectively,
allow, within a tensile test, to obtain the failure of composite material without interlaminar premature
failure occurring.
3.2

Experimental investigation
In order to verify the theoretical predictions, a series of tests were carried out. Four specimens
(Fig. 2) were prepared and tested: one unstrengthened (control beam) and three strengthened with
the aforementioned reinforcement system ( 3.1).
Every test was carried out, monotonically, in displacement control, with the deformations being
monitored with thirty strain gages, both internal and external, applied to the proposed device as well
as the concrete core.
The diagrams of the force, F, versus the displacement, d, are plotted, for the different tests, in Fig. 3.
80

70

60

50

40

30

Contro l beam

20

Strengthened beam n.1

Strengthened beam n.2

10

Strengthened beam n.3

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

d [mm]

Fig. 3 Force Vs displacement.

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3.3

3D theoretical analysis
In order to analyze the experimental results and validate the proposed simplifying approach (
3.1), the 3D analysis of the RC strengthened specimen was carried out by using a specific FEM
software, which explicitly takes into account the steel rebars contribution, the non linear constitutive
law of concrete and its different behaviour in tensile and in compression.
In particular, a mesh made of 71112 finite elements, both bricks and tetra type, were used.
The adopted mechanical properties of the materials are reported in Tables 1 and 2, except for the
characteristic concrete strength, assumed equal to the mean value of the strength measured by
testing the cubic specimens made from the same concrete as the RC tested beams (fck= fcm = 28.7
MPa), and, then, the correspondent Youngs modulus of elasticity.

CONCLUSIONS

In this paper a theoretical and experimental investigation has been presented, with the aim of
validating the device proposed for anchoring FRP laminates, when structural plating is required close
to beam-column joints.
The experimental results have shown the efficacy of the strengthening system, due to the flexural
strength increase being greater than 100% of that exhibited by the unstrengthened specimen.
The theoretical previsions obtained by FEM analysis are in good agreement with the experimental
data and have highlighted the stress concentration in the anchoring device, which can not be
evaluated by adopting the above mentioned simplified approach, are limited.
The simplified approach, proposed by the authors, even if it appears to be more approximate than
3D analysis, seems to give a fairly good prevision of the mechanical behaviour of the strengthened
system.
Within the experimental program, the cyclic tests, which are being performed at the Material and
Structures Testing Laboratory of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Salerno, will
allow the reliability of this reinforcement technique even under seismic loads to be evaluated.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ReLUIS (University Network of Seismic Engineering Laboratories) Consortium provided financial
support to this research.

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

[6]

[7]
[8]
[9]

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JSCE, Recommendation for design and construction of concrete structures using continuous
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CEB-FIP, Externally bonded FRP reinforcement for RC structures, Technical Report Bulletin
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