Serviceability and strength of FRP reinforced concrete structures

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One of the major challenges in Canada is to effectively maintain and expand our extensive networks of bridges, highways and other key elements of infrastructure that are essential to the quality of life of Canadians and to the economic competitiveness and future development of the country. To meet this challenge, we need to build new infrastructure and maintain and repair existing ones. A significant portion of these is made of reinforced concrete, and concrete bridges, parking structures, utility poles, etc. are rapidly deteriorating due to corrosion of steel reinforcement caused by deicing salts. This problem can be solved by replacing steel reinforcement by fibre reinforced polymers (FRP). FRP are corrosion resistant and durable and can be used for the retrofit of existing structures and reinforcement of new reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. However, safe, effective and economic use of FRP needs methods and techniques that are underpinned by rigorous scientific principles, validated by appropriate experiments. Furthermore, to ensure that the results of research are applied in practice, the rigorous methods need be simplified for inclusion in design codes. The proposed research is aimed at fulfilling the above objectives with respect to a number of important problems in the design and retrofit of concrete structures involving FRP. To ensure the safety of FRP reinforced concrete structures, their behaviour and strength under combined stress fields caused by shear, torsion and moment will be investigated and design recommendations will be made. To prevent unexpected punching shear failure in FRP reinforced slab- corner column connections under combined shear and unbalanced moment, this problem will be investigated for the first time in the proposed research. In the proposed study novel anchoring and retrofit systems are investigated to prevent premature delamination, with particular focus on delamination in cases of concrete members retrofitted for increased shear strength. The research results will be used to formulate relatively simple procedures for application by structural designers and for inclusion in design standards.