Proceedings of the International Symposium on Bond Behaviour of FRP in Structures (BBFS 2005)

Chen and Teng (eds)

2005 International Institute for FRP in Construction

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON BOND STRESS-SLIP BEHAVIOUR BETWEEN

FRP SHEETS AND CONCRETE
Z. G. Guo 1 2, S. Y. Cao 2, W. M. Sun 1 and X. Y. Lin 2
College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, China, Email: zhgguo@163.com
2
College of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, China, Email: cao@public1.ptt.js.cn

ABSTRACT
Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are being successfully used for strengthening of existing reinforced
concrete (RC) structures because of their superior properties. A key issue in the design of FRP strengthening RC
structures using externally bonded FRP composites is the bond behavior between FRP and concrete. A modified
beam test specimen was used to study the bond behavior and force transfer of FRP composite adhered to
concrete in this paper. The influence of bond length, and concrete strength on bond behavior was investigated,
and the strain development and distribution in GFRP sheet was studied. At the same time, the local bond stress
and slip were obtained and then were used to infer the local bond stress-slip curve. Based on experimental
results, three local bond stress-slip constitutive models are proposed.
KEYWORDS
FRP, strengthening, bond behavior, bond stress, slip, constitutive model.
INTRODUCTION
Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are widely used for strengthening RC structures. A key issue in the
design of FRP strengthening RC structures externally bonded FRP composites is the bond behavior between
FRP and concrete. The effective stress transfer between FRP and concrete is essential to develop the composite
action. Extensive experimental investigations have indicated that the premature bond failure between FRP and
concrete was an important failure mode (Teng et al. 2002Teng et al. 2001, Marco Arduini et al. 1997, TC.
Allen Ross et al. 1999). Therefore, the bond behavior between FRP and concrete is of critical importance for the
effectiveness of the technique.
Some researches have been carried out in the last few years to investigate the bond behaviour between FRP and
concrete. Several different set-ups have been used to study the strain (stress) distribution in FRP along the bond
length, bond and force transfer mechanism, the effective stress transfer length and the bond strength (Chajes et
al. 1996, Horiguchi, T et al. 1997, Bizindavyi et al. 1999, Nakaba et al. 2001, Maeda, T et al. 1997, Wendel M
Sebastion et al. 2001, Laura De Lorenzis et al. 2001), but very few experimental researches (e.g. Cao S.Y. et al.
2004, Nakaba et al. 2001) have been concerned with the local bond stress-slip behavior. To date there is no
acceptable bond stress-slip constitutive model. Furthermore, the bond stress-slip relationship is essential to
advance a theoretical FRP-to-concrete bond strength model and to investigate the load-displacement behaviour
of such a bonded joint either through analytical or numerical analysis (Yuan et al. 2004). Some existing FRP-toconcrete bond strength models (e.g. Chen & Teng 2001) are semi-empirical analysis where a bond stress-slip
constitutive model is assumed.
This paper presents an experimental study on the bond behavior of externally bonded GFRP concrete members
using a modified beam test. The effect of concrete strength and bond length on bond behavior were investigated,
the local bond stress and slip were obtained and then were used to infer the local bond stress-slip curve. Based
on the experimental results, three local bond stress-slip constitutive models are presented.

77

TEST PROGRAM
Specimen Design
The modified beam specimen considered the effect of shear and flexure and had the identical interfacial stress
state with that of members flexural strengthened with FRP was adopted in this study. The specimen was a plain
concrete beam, simply supported and with a total length of 500mm, a cross-section of 150mm*150mm, and a
saw cut of 50mm deep in the bottom located at mid-span (Figure 1). A total of 9 specimens which designed in 3
groups were tested in this study. The major variables of the specimen were concrete strength and FRP bond
length. Each group specimens has the same concrete strength and different FRP bond length. The cube strength
of concrete for each group was measured to be
30.25, 34.56 and 43.19Mpa respectively. The
bond length of FRP varied from 80mm to
Saw cut
G F R P strip s
200mm. The GFRP sheet had a nominal
thickness of 0.169mm. The ultimate tensile
strength and elastic modulus of GFRP were
b o n d len g th
b o n d len g th
measured to be 1770Mpa and 100.7GPa
respectively. A 50mm wide GFRP strips was
4 0 m m w id e u n b o n d e d
bonded to the tension face of the specimen. The
sheet was left unbonded 20mm on each side of
midspan. Description of the specimens is listed
in Table 1.
Figure 1 Test specimen

Loading Equipment and Measurements

Loading was applied at mid-span through a hydraulic jack. Data collection was accomplished by a series of
strain gauges located along the length of GFRP strip. The interval of each Strain gauge was 10mm.

14000

FRP Strain Propagation and Distribution

Bond Shear Stress Propagation

The bond shear stress between two
consecutive gauge positions can be obtained

78

12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
- 12

- 10

-8

-6

-4

-2

Distance from center(cm)

Fig.2 Strain propagation and distribution for specimen I-2

5

Bond Stress(MPa)

The data collected from the strain gauges was

used to develop the strain distribution profile.
Each curve is plotted for a given load level.
This curve of specimen I-2 was shown in
figure 2. It can be seen from Fig.2, at early
stages of loading, the curve has a non linear
shape. The strains decrease along with the
distance from the center increase. As the load
increases, the profiles tend to attain a linear
shape. At a certain load level, the strain
distribution curves become linear which
means the joint begins failure. This
corresponds to the attainment of a uniform
bond stress along the portion of laminate
which is taking the load. The interfaces failure
occur in stages which indicated by the strain
distribution. The strain profile becomes
horizontal at the beginning of the bonded
length, which means that the joint in that
portion can not transfer load because the joint
has begun to fail. The strain gauges far from
the midspan read strain which means the load
transfer zone shifted. The test results of the
specimens are reported in Table 1.

Strain in the GFRP()

TEST RESULTS

0
3

Distance From Center(cm)

Fig.3 Bond stress distribution for specimen I-3

11

by equilibrium of forces.
Figure 3 shows the bond shear stress distribution profiles at various load levels for specimen I-3. It can be seen
from the curve, the profile of local bond shear stress curve is similar with that of strain distribution. At early
stages of loading, the curve also has a non linear shape and the bond stress decreases sharply along with the
distance from the center increase. When the strain distribution curves become linear at the beginning of the
bonded length, the bond stress profile becomes horizontal at the same position which means the joint begins
failure. As the load increases, the bond stress decreases gradually to zero which means that the joint in that
portion can not transfer load. The bond stress far from the mid-span increases which means the load transfer
zone shifted.
Local Bond Stress-Slip Relationship
The interfacial section

i slip si is the sum of the deference between the elongation of FRP and the elongation of

the equivalent section compounded of concrete and epoxy layer from the free end of the FRP laminate to section
i . The slip of section i is calculated using the following equation:
si = si 1 + ( f , i c ,i )
(i = 2 n, s1 = 0)
1

f ,i

is the elongation of FRP in Section

number of the strain gauges from section

i ; c,i is the elongation of the equivalent section i ; n is

i to the free end of the sheet.

Assuming that the relative displacement

between FRP sheet and concrete at the free
end of the sheet can be considered
negligible, the local slip vs. location
diagram at various load levels can be
obtained by integrating the strain vs.
location curve. After calculating all the data,
the local bond stress slip relationship for
all specimens can be obtained by combining
the two curves of i and si .

6
5

Bond Stress(MPa)

where

4
3
2
1
0

0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
Fig.4 shows the local bond stress-slip curve
for specimen I-7. As can be seen from the
Slip(mm)
diagram, the bond stress-slip curves have a
Fig.4 Bond stress-slip curve for specimen I-7
tendency to become parabolic in form. A
first steep ascending branch is followed by a
plastic or softening region, until an ultimate slip is reached. After the bond stress reaches about 20% to 30% of
the peak value, the stiffness of these curves continuously reduces with the increase of bond stress and reaches
zero at the peak bond stress. After the peak stress, the curve descends slowly and become parabola in form.The
softening branch of the curve predicts the attainment of a linear strain distribution close to peeling and the
ultimate slip explains the ductility of the joint.

BOND STRESS-SLIP MODEL

As can be seen from Fig.4, the local bond stress-slip curve has three key points which include the ultimate bond
stress max , the slip corresponding to the ultimate bond stress S max , and the ultimate slip Su . The values of these
key points for each specimen are listed in Table 1.
As seen in Table 1, the measured ultimate bond stress max shows a tendency to increase when the concrete
compressive strength increases. The relationship between the ultimate bond stress and the concrete strength was
analyzed. The regression expression obtained by least square method is max

= 0.7512 f cu0.5 .

The measured slip corresponding to ultimate bond stress S max ranges from 0.0327mm to 0.054mm, with an
average of 0.046mm. The measured ultimate slip Su ranges from 0.28mm to 0.41mm, with an average of
0.34mm.

79

In this paper, based on the statistical analysis of experimental data, the bond stress-slip models are presented.
Logarithmic Model
The equation of ascending branch adopts the expression reported in ref. [12], and the expression of descending
branch adopts hyperbola form:

1 + k
s
s k0
=
ln(1 + k
)

s max
s max k
max k
S S max
s

(2)

s
>
S
S
max
max

=
2

max
s
s
+c
a+b

s max
s max

Where

k 0 = k 0 s / max is the normalised initial stiffness; k 0 =

1
ha

Ga

hc

is the initial stiffnessGa is the

Gc

shear modulus and ta is the thickness of adhesive layer, Gc is the shear modulus and tc is the thickness of
concrete. A statistical analysis of experimental data shows that a concrete cover of 22 mm thickness contributes
to interface compliance.
of k as function of

k is

a coefficient related to the normalised initial stiffness

k 0 . The expression

k 0 by the regression of local bond-slip curve is:

k = 0.14 * k 0 + 0.83 * k 0 + 0.16 . a , b , c

are coefficients.

Table 1 Details of specimens and test results

Test
specimen

Concrete cubic
strength (MPa)

Bonded length
(mm)

Ultimate bond stress

max (MPa)

Slip at max
Smax (mm)

Ultimate slip Su
(mm)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

33.01
33.01
33.01
33.01
33.01
33.07
33.07
43.19
43.19

80
100
120
160
200
100
160
100
160

4.1768
3.1214
3.8321
4.4997
3.785

5.0176

4.8697

0.04231
0.03275
0.05119
0.05437
0.0513

0.04132

0.04812

0.2885
0.348
0.3021
0.4136
0.41356

0.3345

0.3176

Table 2 data of parameters for model

Test
specimen
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

80

Initial stiffness K0
(MPa/mm)
261.54
150.65
198.9
285.14
273.5

290.16

217.98

k0

2.649
2.354
2.657
3.445
3.707

2.389

2.154

1.428
1.396
1.378
1.472
1.357

1.356

1.338

0.46
0.48
0.49
0.51
0.58

1.625
1.978
2.965
1.968
2.261

2.051

2.352

0.56
0.69

The equation 2 must satisfy the following conditions according to the bond stress-slip curve:

max

= 1;
s = smax

d ( / max )
d ( / max )
= k0 ;
d ( s / s max ) s =0
d ( s / smax ) s =s

=1

max

Substituting Equation 2 into 3 gives the parameters a, b, c: a= c , b = 1 a c = 1 2a .

The values of K0 and

k 0 are deduced from the experimental data. The parameter k and a in equation 3 have

been obtained from a least square minimization between theoretical and experimental data. Thee results are
reported in table 2.
The comparison of logarithmic model
predicts curve with the test measured
bond stress-slip curves are given in Fig.5.
For convenience, the bond stress is
normalised against the ultimate bond
stress max , and the slip S is normalised

1.2

-1
-2

-3
-4

/max

0.8

against the slip Smax. As can be seen from

Figure 5, it is clear that there is a close
agreement between the Logarithmic
model and the test measured curves.

-5
0.6

-7
-9

0.4

Logarithm ic m odel
0.2

Fitting for Popovicss Formular

0
0

max

10

12

S/Smax

The Popovicss equation was used to fit

the local bond stress-slip curve. The
Popovicss equation shown as follows:

Fig.5 comparison of logarithmic model and test result

s max

n 1 + s

s
max

where is the bond stress, MPa; max is the ultimate bond stress, max

(4)

= 0.7512 f cu0.5 ; S is the local slip, mm;

S max is the slip corresponding to the ultimate bond stress; n is the constant coefficient.

the average of the specimens.

1.2

-1
-2

/max

The value of n is calculated by the least

square method using deduced bond stressslip curve. Table 2 lists the fitting results of
each specimen. The average value of n is
2.018. The adopted values of S max and n are

-3
-4

0.8

-5
-7

Figure 6 shows the comparison of Equation

4 with the measured bond stress-slip curve.
Hyperbola Model
The Hyperbola model was obtained by the
regression of the ascending and descending
branches of the measured bond stress-slip
curve respectively. The Hyperbola model
describes the ascending and descending
branches separately using the following equations:

0.6

-9
Popovic model

0.4
0.2
0
0

10

12

S/Smax

Fig.6 comparison of Popovics model and test results

81

S 0.488

)
= 1.114(

S max
max
S

0.2578
S max
= 1.3424e
max
where is the bond stress, MPa; max is the ultimate bond stress, max

S S max
S > S max

(5)

= 0.7512 f cu0.5 ; S is the local slip, mm;

S max is the slip corresponding to the ultimate bond stress.

The shape of the Hyperbola bond-slip model and comparison with the tested bond stress-slip curves is shown in
Figure 7. As it can be seen from the diagram, there is a little difference between this model and the measured
curves, where a sharp corner not a softening branch formatted at the ultimate bond stress portion.
CONCLUSIONS
An experimental study on the bond behavior between FRP and concrete was presented in this paper. From the
test results, the following conclusions can be drawn.

presented in this paper should be

considered in light of the limit data used
to define it. Additional experimental and
theoretical researches are needed before a
more final relation can be drawn.

1.2

-1
1

-2
-3

0.8

/max

1. The value of the ultimate bond stress is

not influence by the bond length, but
increases as concrete compressive
strength increases;
2. The bond stress-slip curves are clearly
nonlinear, and have a tendency to become
parabolic in form;
3. Through a statistical analysis of
experimental data, three empirical bond
stress-slip models have been proposed;
4. The equation and value of max , S max

-4
-5

0.6

-7
-9

0.4

Hyperbola model
0.2

0
0

10

12

S/Smax

Fig.7 comparison of Hyperbola model and test results

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