Flexural Strengthening and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Beam Using BFRP Composites: Finite Element Approach

Abstract

Basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) is adopted widely in recent years in many countries to rehabilitate or strengthen structural elements such as reinforced concrete (RC) beams because it is cheap and it has stellar mechanical performance. By activating the finite element (FE) simulation, the present research submits an extensive study on the strengthening and rehabilitation of damaged full-scale RC beams due to corrosions in the main reinforcement caused by BFRP sheets. Different parameters were taken into consideration such as corrosion grade, BFRP wrapping schemes, and the number of layers. The flexural performance of the models that build up as the control model and the damaged and the repaired methodologies by BFRP that are adopted and tested by others under the effects of four-point static loadings were also underwent examination. The full interaction at BFRP-concrete interface and the full bonding between sheets presupposed were investigated for all models. The numerical analysis findings were compared with the experimental measurements and found to be in good agreement. The current numerical analysis proved that the ultimate load rised by 14.8% in spite of 20% corrosion in the flexural steel rebar under eight layers of BFRP composite and bottom wrapping mode. In addition, under all strategies of wrapping schemes, the findings also indicated that the deflection ductility index noticeably reduced for RC beams with BFRP composites compared to the control beam. Finally, all the results of midspan deflection, crack patterns, and strain response of the composite system were analysed and discussed briefly.