Speakers
Description
The strengthening of existing Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams by adding a thin jacket made of Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) appears to be an effective method for increasing the flexural and shear capacity. However, the mechanical interaction between the original substrate and the new concrete layer introduces complex behaviors, being the interface susceptible to partial debonding, slippage, or cracking. Based on an exhaustive parametric analysis already performed by analyzing experimental data, this work is aimed at better understanding the key parameters that could affect the composite behavior of a strengthened beam section. For this purpose, a computational modeling of the problem in a FE environment is presented. The three phases composite beam system is represented by a RC core, a FRC jacket and the interface between them. Different approaches for the constitutive modeling of the interface as well as the parameters defining the bond strength are explored. Finally, the comparison between experimental and numerical results is performed and a sensitivity analysis of the involved parameters is presented.