NON –LINEAR ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS STRENGTHENED WITH STEEL AND CFRP PLATES

Abstract

Non –linear analysis of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with bonding steel or carbon-fiber reinforcement plates has been investigated in this paper. The ANSYS computer program was used for this purpose. The finite element models are developed using a smeared crack approach for concrete , three dimensional solid elements(solid 65) for concrete, three dimensional solid elements(solid 45) for steel plate ,and three dimensional layered elements(solid 46) for carbon -fiber- reinforced plastic  plate( CFRP). Three- dimensional finite element analysis was conducted to obtain the response of the strengthened beams with steel and CFPR plates in terms of applied load -deflection , tension force distribution in the strengthening plates along the reinforced concrete beams, and bond force distribution in the beam with CFRP plate and beam with steel plate. The present study  contains six beams, three of them those which are tested by Zarnic et al (1999)which are regarded as case  study one and the other three beams are  the overhanging beams which are  supposed in this study as case study two .One beam for each case study was kept as the control beam while the other two beams were externally strengthened with CFRP and steel plates. Results from the ANSYS finite element analysis are compared with those obtained from experimental results and other available numerical results. The comparisons  show good accuracy