Experimental investigation on capacity of steel fibres assuring structural integrity of reinforced concrete elements externally bonded with FRP sheets

Abstract

The current experimental study investigates influence of steel fibres on the composite effect for structural integrity of reinforced concrete elements strengthened with external carbon FRP sheets. The test data of four ties and eight beams reinforced with steel or glass FRP bars are presented. Experimental results indicated that the fibres, significantly increasing the cracking resistance, alter the failure character from splitting the concrete to the bond loss of the external sheets that noticeably increased the load-carrying capacity of the strengthened elements.