Ductility Investigation of RHSC Continuous Beams strengthened with CFRP Sheets

Externally bonding fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets epoxy resin is an effective technique for strengthening and repairing reinforced concrete (RC) beams under flexural loads. Their resistance to elecrro-chemical corrosion, high strength-to-weight ratio, larger creep strain, fatigue resistance, nonmagnetic and nonmetallice proporties make carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites a viable alternative to bonding of steel plates in repair and rehabilitation of RC structures. Although many in situ RC beams are of continuous construction, there has been very littel research into the behavior of such beams with external reinforcement. In addition, most design guidelines were developed for simply supported beams with external fiber reinforced polymer laminates. There fore, this paper reports the testing of five reinforced concrete continuous beams strengthened in flexure with externally bonded carbon-fibre-reinfirced polymer (CFRP) laminates. The performane of the CFRP-strengthened beams was compared with that of an unstrengthened control beam. the ducility of all stremgthened beams was reeduced compared with that of the respective unstrengthened control beam.