During dynamic events (such as impact forces), structures fail to absorb the incoming energy and catastrophic collapse may occur. Impact and quasi-static tests were carried out on reinforced concrete beams with and without externally bounded sprayed and fabric glass fiber-reinforced polymers. For impact loading, a fully instrumented drop-weight impact machine with a capacity of 14.5 kJ was used. The drop height and loading rate were varied. The load-carrying capacity of reinforced concrete beams under impact loading was obtained using instrumented anvil supports (by summing the support reactions). In quasi-static loading conditions, the beams were tested in three-point loading using a Baldwin Universal Testing Machine. ABAQUS FEA software was used to model some of the tested reinforced concrete beams. It was shown that the stiffness of reinforced concrete beams decreases with increasing drop height. It was also shown that applying sprayed glass fiber-reinforced polymers (with and without mechanical stiffeners) and fabric glass fiber-reinforced polymers on the surface of reinforced concrete beams increased the stiffness. Results obtained from the software analyses were in good agreement with the laboratory test results.
Seismic strengthening of low-strength RC concrete columns using low-cost glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRPs)
