ABSTRACT

Almost all reinforced concrete (RC) beams shearstrengthened with externally bonded FRP strips on their sides fail in shear due to debonding of the FRP strips. The bond behaviour between the FRP strips and the concrete substrate therefore plays a crucial role in the failure process of these beams. Despite extensive research over the past decade, there is still a lack of rigorous modelling and understanding of how the debonding of the FRP strips in such a beam propagates and how the debonding process affects its shear behaviour.