Plastic performance of reinforced concrete beams by using external prestressing of Aramid fibre cables

Abstract External prestressing method is supposed to be one of the most promising strengthening or rehabilitation methods for existing damaged bridges. The stress of cables for external prestressing increases linearly with increasing the deflection of the beam. In failure stage, it wil l be important to ensure the appropriate initial prestressing of the beam with keeping the sufficient level of prestressing as well as excellent capability of the plastic deformation. This implies the importance not only to predict the deflection, but also to evaluate the toughness property of the beam with external prestressing.