DUCTILITY OF NORMAL AND HIGH STRENGTH CONTINUOUS BEAMS REINFORCED WITH GFRP REBARS

Abstract

In the reinforced concrete structures, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has been considered an alternative material to steel reinforcement with advantages of corrosion resistance, non-conductivity and a high strength to weight ratio. This work is devoted to study the flexural behavior of normal and high strength concrete continuous beams reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) rebars. Ten continuous beams, with dimensions 150 mm wide × 250 mm deep × 2300 mm length consisting of two equal span were investigated. The beams were divided into three groups according to the compressive strength of concrete (30, 50 and 70) MPa. Each group consists of three beams with different longitudinal ρf (ρfmin, ρfb and 1.5ρfb; where ρfmin and ρfb are the reinforcement ratio at minimum and balanced condition, respectively). Failure load, mid-span deflection, mid-span concrete strains, GFRP reinforcement strains, crack width and ductility of the tested beams were verified and been compared. The experimental results indicate that the increase in the longitudinal ρf increases the failure load by 125% and decreases the crack width and mid-span deflection by 78% and 57%, respectively.