ABSTRACT
A b s t r a c t Preliminary beam tests on 1.0 m long reinforced concrete (RC) specimens with glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) plates epoxy bonded to their soffits are reported. In these tests, a simple parametric study has been carried out in which the concrete strength, adhesive thickness, plate area and plate aspect ratio have been varied. Full plate end anchorage and simple side plates have also been used to observe the effect on ultimate load and mode of failure. These beam tests have shown that plating can considerably enhance both the strength and stiffness of RC members, although at the expense of ductility at failure. Finite element (FE) modelling of the 1.0 m beams has also been carried out, but has proved at this stage to be inaccurate in predicting actual behaviour. Keywords: Adhesives, composite materials, finite element analysis, strengthening of reinforced concrete beams.
