10.2—Reinforced concrete members
This section presents guidance on the calculation of the flexural strengthening effect of adding longitudinal FRP reinforcement to the tension face of a reinforced concrete member. A specific illustration of the concepts in this section applied to strengthening of existing rectangular sections reinforced in the tension zone with nonprestressed steel is given. The general concepts outlined herein can, however, be extended to nonrectangular shapes (T-sections and I-sections) and to members with compression steel reinforcement.
10.2.1 Assumptions—The following assumptions are made in calculating the flexural resistance of a section strengthened with an externally applied FRP system:
• Design calculations are based on the dimensions, internal reinforcing steel arrangement, and material properties of the existing member being strengthened;
• The strains in the steel reinforcement and concrete are directly proportional to the distance from the neutral axis. That is, a plane section before loading remains plane after loading;
• There is no relative slip between external FRP reinforcement and the concrete;
• The shear deformation within the adhesive layer is neglected because the adhesive layer is very thin with slight variations in its thickness;
• The maximum usable compressive strain in the concrete is 0.003;
• The tensile strength of concrete is neglected; and
• The FRP reinforcement has a linear elastic stress-strain relationship to failure.
While some of these assumptions are necessary for the sake of computational ease, the assumptions do not accurately reflect the true fundamental behavior of FRP flexural reinforcement. For example, there will be shear deformation in the adhesive layer causing relative slip between the FRP and the substrate. The inaccuracy of the assumptions will not, however, significantly affect the computed flexural strength of an FRP-strengthened member. An additional strength reduction factor (presented in Section 10.2.10) will conservatively compensate for any such discrepancies.