CICE 2010 - The 5th International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering

September 27-29, 2010 Beijing, China

Flexural Behavior of Concrete Columns Strengthened with Near Surface

Mounted FRP Bars
F. Danesh (danesh@kntu.ac.ir )
Associate professor, Department of Civil Engineering, KNT University of technology, Tehran, Iran
B. Baradaran Noveiri (baharakbn@gmail.com)
Msc. Student, Department of Civil Engineering, KNT University of technology, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: Using composite materials for repairing and strengthening of concrete structures, specifically
reinforced concrete (RC) columns, has continuously increased during past few years. Fiber reinforced
polymer (FRP) is one of the different types of these materials, which can be used by either wrapping or near
surface mounted (NSM) methods, in order to improve the confinement effects and the flexural capacity of RC
columns. In this study, concrete column specimens, strengthened with near surface mounted FRP bars, were
modeled in computer program, using finite element analysis. The behaviors of these columns were then
analyzed under monotonic and cyclic lateral loads with constant axial compressive loads. The analytical
results were compared to the results obtained from experimental observations on specimens with the same
geometry and loading conditions and they were in good agreement. Since the anchorage of FRP bars in
column’s foundation is an important factor to prevent premature failure, an additional parametric study on the
specimens was done to find the optimal development length of FRP reinforcement in the foundation.

1 INTRODUCTION the combination of NSM reinforcement with local

Near surface mounted (NSM) reinforcement
involves cutting grooves into the concrete cover and
bonding rebar inside the grooves through the use of
appropriate filler (typically epoxy resin or cement-
based mortar). The idea of NSM reinforcement was
born in Europe for steel rebar in the late 1940s
(Asplund 1949), but it was only recently when more
hi-tech materials, such as FRPs and high quality
epoxies, become available, that the technique was
given substantial attention by the research
community and practitioners [Bournas &
Traintafillou 2008].
This technique was successfully used to upgrade
the flexural capacity of reinforced concrete (RC)
piers. Flexural strengthening and testing to failure of
the piers were carried out on a bridge that was
scheduled for demolition during the spring of 1999.
Three of the four piers of the bridge were
strengthened with different configurations using
FRP rods and jackets. The flexural strengthening
was achieved using NSM carbon FRP rods that were
anchored into the footings[Alkhrdaji & Nanni 1999].
The first systematic study on NSM-based flexural
strengthening of RC columns under simulated
seismic loading was presented by Bournas and
Triantafillou [Bournas & Traintafillou 2008]. Their
investigation addressed column strengthening with
NSM carbon or glass fibers, as well as stainless steel
rebars. Another innovative aspect in that study was
jacketing, which comprised the recently developed
textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) confining system,
described by Triantafillou et al. (2006) and Bournas
et al. (2007) [Triantafillou et al. 2006, Concrete… –
Bournas et al. 2007, Textile-Reinforced…].
The obtained experimental results from a recent
study By Barros et al. (2008) involved strengthening
RC columns subjected to axial compression and
lateral cyclic loading with NSM CFRP strips
indicate that the proposed strengthening technique is
very promising for increasing the load carrying
capacity of concrete columns failing in bending.
However, as was expected, the energy absorption
capacity of the tested RC columns was not improved
by this technique, since it did not provide significant
concrete confinement [Barros et al. 2008].
The aim of this paper is to investigate the flexural
behavior of reinforced concrete columns
strengthened with NSM technique. In order to reach
this goal, a three dimensional model of RC column
subjected to monotonic and cyclic lateral with
constant axial compressive load was created in
computer program. The column was then
strengthened with FRP bars to observe the effects of
NSM strengthening method on increasing the
flexural capacity of column. To prevent FRP bars
from debonding, the bars were continued in the
foundation and finally their optimal development
length was found.
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODELING
For this study a finite element model of RC column
was chosen to allow comparison between the result
obtained from experimental work and the analytical
one which is described below. The geometry,
material, boundary conditions and loadings are
similar to those used in previous experimental works
[Sarafraz & Danesh 2010].
2.1 Geometry and model
The concrete column assembly being analyzed is
depicted in Figure 1 and Figure 2. The height of
column is 100 cm. The foundation and cap beam
were also modeled to apply the boundary condition
and loads (Figure 2).
The column, foundation and cap beam were
failure) surface is controlled by two hardening
variables,  t~ pl and  c~ pl (which refers to tensile and
compressive equivalent plastic strains), linked to
failure mechanisms under tension and compression
loading, respectively. The material properties used
in this study are summarized in Table 1.
Linear kinematic hardening model which is a
bilinear model for steel was assumed for rebar and
stirrup. The column has reinforcement ratio of 0.01.
CFRP rebar were supposed to have linear elastic
behavior up to failure. The rupture strain of CFRP is
1.7%. For strengthening the column a CFRP bar
with diameter of 12mm is used at each side of it.

200
modeled with continuum elements (8-node linear

200
300
brick element - C3D8). Rebar and stirrup were 200
200
modeled using truss elements (3-node quadratic 500
SECTION A-A
displacement elements - T3D2) which were
embedded in concrete elements. SECTION I-I

500

200
300

I 300 I 200

1000

SECTION J-J

Figure2. Cross sections of cap beam, column and foundation

(dimensions in mm)

1000 Table1. Summary of material properties

Compressive strength
Concrete 20
A A Mpa
Yield strength
400
MPa
Steel
Elasticity modulus
200000
MPa
Tensile strength
2000
J 300
J MPa
Elasticity modulus
CFRP rebar 72
GPa
Ultimate strain
1000 1.7
%

Figure1. Geometry of modeled specimen (dimensions in mm).

2.2 Material
Concrete damaged plasticity material model was
applied to concrete elements for the assessment of
the structural stability and damage of concrete
columns subjected to cyclic lateral loading. It
assumes that the main two failure mechanisms are
tensile cracking and compressive crushing of the
concrete material. The evolution of the yield (or
2.3 Boundary condition and loading
Concrete elements have three degrees of freedom ().
The boundary condition was applied to nodes on the
bottom of the foundation to constrain the motion of
the foundation in the x, y and z-directions.
A constant axial compressive load of 200 kN
(which corresponds to an axial load ratio of 0.25)
was applied on the top elements of cap beam in the
area of 200x200 mm. This was followed by a cyclic
(or monotonic) lateral displacement load applied to
the cap beam.
3 LAYOUT OF ANALYSIS
3.1 Specimens properties
The analysis program consisted of seven columns
models. A description of the specimens follows next.
One specimen was analyzed without retrofitting as
Control. The experimental observation on this
specimen is also available from previous studies
[Sarafraz & Danesh 2010]. The results obtained
from analysis were compared to the experimental
work to verify the computer modeling and analytical
results.
The other specimens were strengthened with four
CFRP bars at each side of the column. In order to
investigate the effect of development length of
CFRP bars into the foundation on the flexural
capacity and plastic length of column, the
development length of CFRP bars into the
foundation varied from zero (no anchorage) to 250
mm in these six specimens.
4 RESULTS
4.1 Verification
In control specimen analysis, the loading condition
was similar to the load condition in experimental
work. In other words a cyclic lateral and a constant
axial compressive load were applied to the specimen
and it was analyzed until failure. The base shear
force-displacement curve obtained from analysis and
experimental work for control specimen can be
compared in Figure 3.
Figure3. Force-displacement curves for control specimen
subjected to cyclic lateral and constant compressive axial load.
It can be seen that the maximum strength of two
curves are equal but the experimental control
column shows a more flexible behavior as compared
to the analytical one. However, the observed
difference in between experimental and analytical
curves in this study was not significant. Since there
wasn’t any cyclic test on steel and concrete in
experimental work, their stress-strain properties
might be different from those assumed and these
differences could be the causes of various
flexibilities of the above curves.
4.2 Improving the flexural capacity of strengthened
column
In order to see the effect of NSM strengthening
technique on improving flexural capacity of column
the control specimen was analyzed under monotonic
increasing lateral load and constant axial
compressive load. The corresponding force-
displacement curves were compared to the specimen
which was strengthened with NSM CFRP bars and
analyzed under the same loading condition. The
development length of CFRP bars in this specimen
was 10cm. Force-displacement curves obtained from
analysis are shown in Figure 4. The flexural capacity
of strengthened column increased 25% over the
control specimen.
Figure4. Force-displacement curves for strengthened and
Control specimens.
4.3 Optimal development length of CFRP bars in
foundation
To investigate the effect of development length of
CFRP bars into the foundation on flexural capacity
and plastic length of column, six specimens
strengthened with CFRP bars with different
development length were analyzed under monotonic
increasing lateral load and constant axial
compressive load. Since the experimental work
[Sarafraz & Danesh 2010] on specimens
strengthened with NSM rebar indicated that the
failure modes of strengthened columns are crushing
the concrete, in this investigation the NSM rebars
were modeled using embedding in the concrete
elements And it is assumed that the failure modes of
NSM FRP strengthened RC columns are crushing
the concrete but not FRP debonding. Figure 5
presents the force-displacement curves of these
specimens.
Figure5. Shear base force-displacement curves of strengthened
specimens with NSM CFRP bars with different development
length.
The graph above suggests that increasing
development length of CFRP bars in foundation up
to 15 cm, enhanced the flexural capacity of
specimens, but there were no significant differences
between specimens with 15, 20 and 25 cm
development length of CFRP bars.
Table 2 illustrates the plastic length of columns
for different development length.
Table2. Summary of material properties
Development length Plastic length of
of CFRP bars column
cm cm
0 12.5
5 17.5
10 22.5
15 27.5
20 27.5
25 27.5
It is indicated that the increasing development length
of CFRP bars up to 15 cm in foundation resulted in
the enhancement of plastic length of columns and
increasing the length more than 15 cm had no
significant effect.
5 CONCLUSION
The present study was designed to determine the
effect of NSM strengthening technique for columns.
The obtained analytical results indicated that this
technique is promising for increasing the load
carrying capacity of concrete columns that fail in
bending. Anchoring the CFRP bars in the foundation
is a very important factor to prevent premature
debonding and to increase the flexural capacity and
plastic length of columns. The results of this
investigation show that increasing development
length of CFRP bars up to a specific length (which
may be 12.5 ) into foundation enhances the plastic
length and flexural capacity of columns and
increasing the length more than 15 cm had no
significant effects.
6 REFERENCES
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flexural strengthening of RC columns: Expermental and
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3412_3425
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