Behavior of Shear Deficient RC Beams Strengthened with FRP

The phenomenon of shear failure in reinforced concrete members is complex. For shear strengthening of reinforced concrete T-beam, fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) may be provided in the form of bonded external FRP sheets or strips as web reinforcement. The use of FRP as external web reinforcement for strengthening of beams in shear introduces two additional failure modes: FRP rupture and FRP debonding. These generate additional levels of complexity to the failure behaviour of such beams. In the present study, the characteristics of shear deficient reinforced concrete T-beam retrofitted with FRP composites are explored. The effectiveness of strengthening of beams using FRP is found to depend on several factors like properties of laminate and interface, amount of stirrups, nature of the interface between different constituents of the beam strengthened with FRP, the FRP configuration, the amount of laminate used, the provision of fillets and anchors at the web-flange junction, shear span to depth ratio, size effect, concrete strength and the nature of the bond between the external and internal reinforcements and concrete.