Progress in durability study of FRP materials

Abstract

During the past decades, FRP strengthened RC structures have attracted worldwide interest in both application and research. Nowadays, as more and more infrastructures are being suffered from severe corrosions due to harsh and extreme environments, the durability of FRP strengthened RC structures has generally emerged as the most important issue in research. Thus, the paper presents the latest progress in durability study of the FRP materials through an in-depth review and analysis on existing extensive investigations. The time-dependent performances of two types of FRP materials of carbon FRP (CFRP) and glass FRP (GFRP) under severe environments of humidity, high temperature, wet-dry cycles, freeze-thaw cycles, ultraviolet radiation exposure, and natural exposure have been compared and analyzed. The results have finally confirmed the superior corrosion resistance of FRP material, although the performance of GFRP material exhibited a slight deterioration.