Finite element modeling of reinforced concrete beams strengthened for flexure with carbon fiber reinforced polymers

Abstract

Aging of reinforced concrete structures is of major concern, and strengthening these structures, using externally bonded Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) is a promising method. Prediction of behaviour of CFRP strengthened concrete members, using finite element method (FEM) has become increasingly popular, due to the advancement in the computational power and limited material resources. A three dimensional nonlinear FE model for rectangular reinforced concrete beam, strengthened with externally bonded CFRP has been developed using ANSYS and calibrated, using experimental results of CFRP strengthened beam in flexure. ANSYS FE model shows good agreement with the experimental results.