Al-Rafidain Engineering Journal (AREJ) ISSN (Print) 1813-0526;
Vol. 25, No.1, June2020, pp. 17-24 ISSN (Online) 2220-1720
Al-Rafidain Engineering Journal (AREJ) Vol. 25, No.1, June2020, pp. 17-24
Strengthening and Rehabilitation of Concrete Prisms Using
GFRP Sheets
Ashtar S. Al-Luhybi Bayar J. Al- Sulayfani
aziztaher@uomosul.edu.iq dr.bayar.alsulayvani@umosul.edu.iq
Civil Engineering Department, Collage of Engineering, University of Mosul
Received: 10/1/2020 Accepted: 16/5/2020
ABSTRACT
The use of external strengthening by fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) technology has significantly
increased in recent decades. This is because (FRP) has the properties that make it the most suitable option
for strengthening and rehabilitation of damaged concrete structures instead of using traditional materials
such as steel plates.In this paper, the behaviour of non-reinforced concrete beams externally wrapped with
Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) sheets has been examined. Fourteen unreinforced concrete prisms
were cast with a rectangular section of (150 × 125 mm) and a length of (760mm), these specimens were
divided into five group. First group was not externally wrapped with GFRP sheets (control specimens), and
the remaining groups were GFRP wrapped with a variable number of GFRP layers (thickness of wrapping).
In the first stage of study, the prisms have been tested and the effect of external wrapping and increasing the
wrapping thickness on the behaviour of prisms was observed. In the second stage, the unwrapped concrete
prisms that were tested and failed (control specimens) were rehabilitated by externally wrapping them with
one layer of GFRP sheets. The results have shown that wrapping with GFRP sheets increased the capacity of
the prisms and failure load had reached to (342.5%) for prisms wrapped with three layers when compared to
the control specimens. It was also noticed that there was an increase in the toughness of the prisms by
increasing the number of GFRP layers. The results have shown that there was a decrease in the failure load
of the four layer wrapped prisms, and this was due to the early failure of the prisms due to the debonding of
the GFRP sheets from the prism surface. The damaged specimens which were later rehabilitated have shown
an increase in load carrying capacity compared to the control specimen.
Keywords:
Enhancement; Externally bonding; Flexure strength; Glass fiber reinforced polymer; Retrofitting.
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1. INTRODUCTION
The use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) to
strengthen reinforced concrete structures has grown
and become a known technique. The lightweight
and formability of these fibers have made them
non-corrosive and resistant to chemicals, so they
are the right choice for external reinforcement[1].
Many of the practical investigations conducted in
the past have shown that the use of polymer fiber in
the strengthening has several benefits compared to
conventional methods, this is because of their high
strength, low weight and improved durability [2].
There are three known types of polymer fiber used
in the civil structures namely glass, aramid, and
carbon fiber. The physical and chemical properties
of these fibers vary not only from one type to
another but also differ for the same fiber type [3].
Al-Luhybi[4] investigated the effect of wrapping
standard cylinders(150×300 mm) by GFRP sheets
on its compressive strength, where it was observed
from the results that wrapping using fiberglass
sheets increased the capacity of cylinders. Meisam
et al.[5] Conducted experimental study to
investigate the effect of FRP strengthening on