Experimental study on bending performances of FRP-concrete composite T-beams with prefabricated BFRP shell

Abstract

FRP-Concrete composite beams with prefabricated BFRP shell are further studied in this paper. Based on previous research experience, several specimens of FRP-Concrete composite T-beams were designed with steel bar as the main reinforcement and lower FRP participation proportion than before to improve the performance, in which the FRP-concrete interface was wet-bonding combined with a new type of FRP shear Key (FSK-WB), and the prefabricated BFRP section was made by the vacuum infusion molding technique and then filled with freshly-cast concrete. Bending experiments of six composite beams and two RC beams, under either static or cyclic load, were conducted. The experiment results indicate that this kind of FRP-concrete composite beam has the advantages of higher bearing capacity, proper post-yield stiffness, better recoverability, and at the same time without reducing the ductility. On the other hand, these beams will use less FRP materials to obtain durability, thus reduce the materials cost. The FSK-WB interface is proved to be safe and reliable. © Tsinghua University Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.