Flexure and shear behavior of RC beams strengthened by external reinforcement

The technique is illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 1. High yield threaded bars are applied to both sides of a RC beam, close to the soffit level of the beam. On all but short spans there are benefits from use of deflectors to avoid a reduction in effective depth as the beam deflects. External bars can thus easily be installed by hand. The use of external unbonded reinforcement offers the potential of providing a more cost effective and less disruptive solution to the problem of strengthening simply supported RC beams.