Volume 1, Issue 1 (September, 2011), Poster No.

Shear Strengthening of Skew RC Beams Using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP)
Noor Safwan Muhamad, Nasir Shafiq, Mirza Munir Ahmed Civil Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Perak, Malaysia Presented at: Venue: Date(s): Article History: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS - 24th Engineering Design Exhibition Perak, Malaysia 21-22 Oct, 2009
Received; August 09, 2011, Received Corrected Proof; August 22, 2011, Accepted; August 25, 2011

Abstract
The study demonstrates the shear strengthening of skew Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams using CFRP strips. Skew RC beams are widely practiced in the construction of bridges and flyovers. As there are many cases of failed bridges and flyovers reported worldwide including in Malaysia, researchers now aggressively find strategies to repair and retrofit those structures instead of choosing to demolish and reconstruct it is as the costs become the main constraints. In this study, six simply supported 150mm x 230mm x 2000mm RC beams were tested to evaluate the effect of CFRP in strengthening skew beams. Two of the beams were treated as control beams while the other four were wrapped up with CFRP strips. From the static load test, the strengthening of skew beams using CFRP varied from 21.08% up to 43.47% and from this variation, the effect of CFRP configuration and skew angle on the strength of the beams were determined. Keywords: Retrofit; Shear Capacity; Shear Stress; Skew Beams; Torsion

Introduction
Many structures throughout their lifetimes will require strengthening for several reason such as corrosion of materials, structural and fire damage, change of use and increased loading, inadequate design, poor quality construction and recently to protect against seismic loading. For example, existing bridges majorly were designed for traffic loads lighter than the ones common today. By evaluating the strength, once it indicates that the flexural or shear capacity is insufficient, the structural engineers are the one who is accountable in find out ways to tackle this problem. There are several ways can be considered by the engineers where the safest way is by demolishing and reconstructing the bridges according to the new traffic load. However, as engineers must not only thinking of the way to resolve the issue but at the same time thinking about the economic impacts, repairing and retrofitting the existing bridges are the best way to solve this structural problem. Most of the available research on strengthening of beams is based on straight beams; however, in bridges skew beam profile is very common due to alignment and routing. Because of this, it did not only suffer vibration but also torsion which might result into twisting and warping. The scope of this study will cover the effect of CFRP on shear strengthening of skew RC beams. The objectives are to determine the best configuration of CFRP wrapping for maximum enhancement of shear capacity and also to determine the effect of beams skew angle on the strengthening of beams using CFRP.

Fig. 1. Possible failure for a simply supported rectangular concrete beam [1]

Fig. 2. Possible failure for a strengthened concrete beam [1]

Material & Methods

In terms of the material, to ensure that the beams will fail in shear, the nominal shear reinforcement was used where 6 mm mild steel strirrups were installed with 300 mm spacing interval considered center to center. Table 1 shows the characteristics for the test beams. Table 1 Characteristics for the test beam Item Dimension Cement Type Aggregate size Water cement ratio Concrete grade Cover Tension reinforcement Compression reinforcement Stirrups Characteristic 150mm x 230mm x 2000mm Ordinary Portland Cement 20mm 0.5 35 25mm 2Y12 2Y12 R6-300

Fig. 3. Configuration of CFRP strips

Considering the objectives of this research is to determine the best configuration of CFRP wrapping on skew beam for maximum enhancement of shear capacity, two configuration of CFRP is applied where one of it is perpendicular to the base and the other one slanting to the base approximately 45. While to determine the effect of CFRP on Fig. 4. Shear failure of control different skew of beams, three beams were tested with 15 skew and the beam other three with 20 skew. The details of the CFRP strips configuration are shown in Fig.3. After attaching the CFRP strips, the complete application was subsequently left to cure for a minimum of 24 hours before the testing. Static load test were done using 500 kN dynamic machine to know the ultimate strength of the 6 test beams.

Results & Discussion

From the static load test using 500 kN dynamic machine, Table 2 shows Fig. 5. Unslanted CFRP the results of all the 6 beams tested in terms of its ultimate force before strengthened beam failed under failure, the contribution of CFRP and the failure mode. The increase of the flexural mode ultimate load that can be sustained by the strengthened beam before failure compared to the ultimate load that can be sustained by the control beam is considered as contribution of CFRP [2]. By assuming that the contribution of the steel stirrups and bent-up bars, Vs and the contribution of concrete, Vc are still fully developed, Chen and Teng come out with the expression below to calculate the shear strength of a strengthened beam Vn, Vn = Vc + Vs + Vfrp Where, Vn is the shear strength of the strengthened beam Vc is the shear contribution of concrete Vs is the shear contribution of steel Vfrp is the shear contribution of fiber reinforced polymer

Fig. 6. Slanted CFRP strengthened beam failed under flexural mode

Table 2 Test result at failure of beams Beam 1 2 3 4 5 6 Skew Angle 20 15 20 15 20 15 CFRP Orientation Perpendicular Perpendicular Diagonal Diagonal Ultimate force (kN) 57.01 57.77 69.03 82.88 77.05 79.78 Contribution of CFRP (kN/%) 0 0 12.02 / 21.08 25.11/43.47 20.04/35.15 22.01/38.10 Failure mode Shear Shear CFRP peeling / Shear Flexural Flexural Flexural

To get a better view on the comparison between all the 6 beams, Figure 7 shows the graph of Applied Load vs Beam Deflection which was prepared according to the data obtained from the static load test.
Graph of Applied Load vs Beam Deflection Control beam 20 degree Control beam 15 degree

Applied Load (kN)

Perpendicular 20 degree
Beam Deflection (mm) Perpendicular 15 degree

Fig. 7. Graph of applied load vs beam deflection As shown in Fig 7, it is obvious that both control beams tested with 15 and 20 skew angles exhibit the same type of failure which is shear mode and quite similar load-deflection reaction. The third beam shows that it can handle higher strength, but after about 10mm deflection, one of its CFRP strips was peeled off. That peeled off affects the elasticity of the beam, then suddenly when the applied load reach 69.03 kN, the other two CFRP strips were peeled off make an abrupt shear failure occur at both support. Except Beam 3, all the strengthened beams failed in flexural mode instead of shear mode for the control beams, this again shows how CFRP can strengthen the beams in shear.

Conclusions
From the results obtained, it is clear that CFRP strips can strengthen the skew RC beams in shear and the effect of skew angle on shear capacity can be considered as negligible. These findings will be very helpful in proposing new ways in retrofitting bridges, highways and other structures which involved skew beams. It is recommended for future researchers to come out with more CFRP configuration and go for dynamic load test

References
1 2 Bjorn, T. (2003). Construction and Building Materials, 17, 15-26. Chen, J. F., & Teng, J. G. (2001). FRP Composites in Civil Engineering, I, 695-704.

Correspondence Contact Details

Noor Safwan Muhamad Email: safwanmuhamad@gmail.com Tel: +60-17-5593704
BCRC Copyright 2011, Info.ipjst@ciitvehari.edu.pk