Tamkang Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 9, No 3, pp.

223-232 (2006) 223

Concrete Beams Strengthened with Externally

Bonded Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic Plates
Ming-Hung Hsu
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Penghu University,
Penghu, Taiwan 880, R.O.C.

Abstract
In this work, the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by epoxy bonded
glass fiber reinforced plastic plates is investigated through the finite element method. The finite
element models based on the widely used package ABAQUS are employed in simulating the behavior
of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by externally bonded glass fiber reinforced polymer. The
numerical results of four-point bending test of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by externally
bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plates in comparing with the experimental results show satisfactory
agreement. The results indicate that the flexure strength of reinforced concrete beams can be
significantly increased by externally bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plates. The dynamic behavior
of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by epoxy bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plates is
investigated through the differential quadrature method. In this approach, only eleven sample points
are required to obtain convergence.

Key Words: Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic Plate, Reinforced Concrete Beam, Finite Element Method,
Differential Quadrature Method

1. Introduction et al. [16,17] experimentally studied the failure mo-

Existing cracking reinforced concrete beams may
require increasing the shear capacity and cracking.
The glass fiber reinforced plastic plate is used to bond
the beam in order to increase flexural capacity. Sa-
adatmanesh et al. [1-12] experimentally investigated
the static strength of reinforced concrete beams and
column strengthened by gluing glass fiber reinforced
plastic plates. High strength fiber reinforced plastic
straps are wrapped around the column in the potential
plastic hinge region to increase confinement and to
improve the behavior under seismic forces. Hamoush
and Ahmad [13] investigated the strength of steel-pla-
te-strengthened concrete beams. Adhikary et al. [14,15]
investigated the shear strengthening of reinforced con-
crete beams using steel plates bonded on beam web
through experiments and numerical analysis. Garden
*Corresponding author. E-mail: hsu@npu.edu.tw
des of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with
pre-stressed carbon composite plates and the anchor-
age length of carbon fiber composite plates used to
strengthen reinforced concrete beams. Kankam [18]
studied the flexural strength and deformation charac-
teristics of concrete beams reinforced with threaded
steel bars that were tensioned against steel plates bear-
ing on the concrete ends by means of tighten nuts.
Subedi and Baglin [19] analyzed the ultimate load of
plate reinforced concrete beams. Picard et al. [20] in-
vestigated the influence of various design parameters
such as cube strength, size and position of main em-
bedded tensile bars, width of the beam, plate thick-
ness, and ratio of plate width on the magnitude of ulti-
mate plate peeling moment. Nguyen et al. [21] inves-
tigated an analytical model for reinforced concrete
beams with bolted side plates accounting for longitu-
dinal and transverse partial interaction. Shen et al.
[22] presented an analytical-numerical procedure for
224 Ming-Hung Hsu
the bending and transverse vibration analysis of mod-
erately thick plates strengthened by a bonded thin com-
posite plate under different kinds of boundary condi-
tions. Ascione and Feo [23] developed a finite ele-
ment model for predicting shear and normal stresses
in the adhesive layer of plated reinforced concrete beams.
Raoof et al. [24] investigated the theoretical and ex-
perimental study on externally plated reinforced con-
crete beams. Barnes et al. [25,26] solved the transfer
of stress through steel to concrete adhesive bond and
analyzed the external steel plate systems for the shear
strengthening of reinforced concrete beams based on
the equilibrium of forces along the critical section. Sa-
pountzakis et al. [27,28] studied the interface forces and
stresses in composite steel-concrete structure. Wang [29]
investigated the analytical and experimental study on se-
ismic performance of reinforced concrete T-beams with
design deficiency in steel bar curtailment.
ABAQUS standard finite element analysis code is
used to model the reinforced concrete beams bonding
glass fiber reinforced plastic plates to the tension sur-
face. ABAQUS offers the facility of nonlinear model-
ing for the reinforced concrete beam. The differential
quadrature method (DQM) is used to form the vibration
problems of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by
epoxy bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plates in
matrix form. To the author’s knowledge, very few pub-
lished papers in the literature have presented the dy-
namic analysis of reinforced concrete beams strength-
Figure 1. Schematic view of the reinforced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a glass fiber reinforced plastic plate
along the tension face.
ened by epoxy bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic pla-
tes using the DQM.
2. Flexural Strength of Reinforced Concrete
Beams Strengthened by Epoxy Bonded Glass
Fiber Reinforced Plastic Plates
Figure 1 shows the geometry of a reinforced concrete
beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a glass fiber rein-
forced plastic plate for four-point bending test. L is the
length of the reinforced concrete beam. An epoxy layer is
applied to the straps while wrapping for inter laminar
bond. The finite element models based on the widely used
package ABAQUS are employed in simulating the be-
havior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by ex-
ternally bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plates. We
use the method for measuring the shear strength to get
the simple compressive strength and the simple tensile
strength by Mohr-Columb criterion. Meshes with trian-
gle type elements are created with an automatic mesh ge-
nerator. In this two dimensional non-linear finite element
model, the boundary nodes are considered simple sup-
ported. The modeling approach performed in this study
is based on finite element method to describe the total
strain. ABAQUS provides an elastic plastic damage the-
ory; including tension cracking, compression crushing,
and post crack response. In this study of FEM model, the
elastic plastic damage theory is adopted to solve the stress
distribution.
 Concrete Beams Strengthened with Externally Bonded Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic Plates 225

Figure 2 shows the central deflection of the reinfor- crete beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a 6 mm thick
ced concrete beam. The beam size used is 0.20 m (b) ´ glass fiber reinforced plastic plate along the tension face.
0.30 m (h) ´ 3.00 m (L). b is the width of the reinforced The experimental ultimate load is 255.7 kN [30]. The an-
concrete beam. h is the thickness of the reinforced con- alytical ultimate load is 248.4 kN. The agreement between
crete beam. The beams are reinforced with two D6 bars numerical and experiment curves is satisfactory.
in the compression zone, whereas two D9 bars are pro- Figure 6 displays the central deflection of the rein-
vided in the tension. The diameter of D6 bar is 6.35 mm. forced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a 6
The diameter of D9 bar is 9.53 mm. Young’s modulus of mm thick glass fiber reinforced plastic plate along the
the concrete is 21000 MPa. The experimental ultimate
load is 91.9 kN [30]. The analytical ultimate load is 98.9
kN. The agreement between numerical and experiment
curves is satisfactory.
Figure 3 shows the central deflection of the reinfor-
ced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a 2 mm
thick glass fiber reinforced plastic plate along the tension
face. Young’s modulus of the glass fiber reinforced plas-
tic plate is 37230 MPa. The experimental ultimate load is
172.4 kN [30]. The analytical ultimate load is 165.5 kN.
The results solved using FEM and experimental results
are put together for comparison. Results indicate that the
central deflection calculated using the FEM agreed very
well with the measured deflection. Figure 4 shows the
central deflection of the reinforced concrete beam stren-
gthened by epoxy bonded a 4 mm thick glass fiber rein-
forced plastic plate along the tension face. The experi-
Figure 3. Central deflection of the reinforced concrete beam
mental ultimate load is 182.5 kN [30]. The analytical ul- strengthened by epoxy bonded a 2 mm thick glass
timate load is 220.0 kN. The numerical results and the re- fiber reinforced plastic plate along the tension face.
sults measured experimentally correspond closely. Fig-
ure 5 shows the central deflection of the reinforced con-

Figure 4. Central deflection of the reinforced concrete beam

strengthened by epoxy bonded a 4 mm thick glass
Figure 2. Central deflection of the reinforced concrete beam. fiber reinforced plastic plate along the tension face.
226 Ming-Hung Hsu
Figure 5. Central deflection of the reinforced concrete beam
strengthened by epoxy bonded a 6 mm thick glass
fiber reinforced plastic plate along the tension face.
Figure 6. Central deflection of the reinforced concrete beam
strengthened by epoxy bonded a 6 mm thick glass
fiber reinforced plastic plate along the tension face.
tension face. The beam size used is 0.205 m (b) ´ 0.565
m (h) ´ 4.875 m (L). The beams are reinforced with two
D13 bars in the compression zone, whereas three D25
bars are provided in the tension. The diameter of D13 bar
is 12.7 mm. The diameter of D25 bar is 25.4 mm. The ex-
perimental ultimate load is 325.0 kN [30]. The analytical
ultimate load is 352.0 kN. The agreement between nu-
merical and experiment results is satisfactory. Figure 7
Figure 7. Central deflection of the reinforced concrete beam
strengthened by epoxy bonded a 6 mm thick glass
fiber reinforced plastic plate along the tension face.
reveals the central deflection of the reinforced concrete
beam strengthened by epoxy-bonding a 6 mm thick glass
fiber reinforced plastic plate along the tension face. The
beams are reinforced with two D13 bars in the compres-
sion zone, whereas two D25 bars are provided in the ten-
sion. The experimental ultimate load is 255.0 kN [30].
The analytical ultimate load is 263.0 kN. The numerical
results of four-point bending test of reinforced concrete
beams strengthened by externally bonded glass fiber re-
inforced plastic plates in comparing with the experimen-
tal results show satisfactory agreement.
3. Dynamic Analysis of Reinforced Concrete
Beams Strengthened by Epoxy Bonded Glass
Fiber Reinforced Plastic Plates
This work demonstrates the dynamic behavior of re-
inforced concrete beams strengthened by epoxy bonded
glass fiber reinforced plastic plates using the DQM. The
influences of glass fiber reinforced plastic plate thickness
on the dynamic behavior of reinforced concrete beams
strengthened by epoxy bonded glass fiber reinforced plas-
tic plates are investigated. The DQM is used to form the
reinforced concrete beams strengthened by epoxy bond-
ed glass fiber reinforced plastic plates problems in matrix
form. The calculated accuracy and integrity of this prob-
lem is demonstrated by a series of case studies using the
 Concrete Beams Strengthened with Externally Bonded Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic Plates 227

DQM. There are many computational methods available N

for vibration analysis. Bellman et al. [31,32] introduced Dii( ) = -

1
å
j =1, j ¹ i
Dij( ) for i = 1, 2, …, N
1
(4)
the DQM. DQM reduces the partial differential equations
into a set of algebraic equations and has been used exten- The second-order and higher-order derivatives of the DQ
sively to solve a variety of problems in different fields of coefficients can also be obtained by matrix multiplica-
science and engineering [33-48]. tion [33,34], thus:
The efficiency and accuracy of the DQM are not de-
pendent on the number and accuracy of the selected com- N
Dij(2) = å Dik(1) Dkj(1) for i, j = 1, 2, …, N (5)
parison functions. The essence of the DQM is that the de- k =1
rivative of a function at a sample point is approximated
N
by a weighted linear sum of the functional values at all Dij(3) = å Dik(1) Dkj(2) for i, j = 1, 2, …, N (6)
the sample points in the domain. DQM approximates the k =1

mth order partial derivate of f(z) with respect to z as: N

Dij(4) = å Dik(1) Dkj(3) for i, j = 1, 2, …, N (7)
k =1

ì f (z1 ) ü ì f (z1 ) ü
ï ï ï ï
¶ ï f (z2 )ï é (m ) ù ï f (z2 )ï
m M
í ý @ D í ý for i, j = 1, 2, …, N
¶z m ï M ï ë
ij û
ï M ï (1) N
ï f (z N )ï
î þ
ï f (z N )ï
î þ Dij( m ) = å Dik(1) Dkj( m -1) for i, j = 1, 2, …, N (8)
k =1

where f(zi) is the functional value at the sample point zi, The selection of sample points always plays an im-
and Dij(m) are the DQ coefficients of the mth order differ- portant role in the solution accuracy of the DQM. The
entiation attached to these functional values. unequally spaced sample points of each beam using the
The DQ coefficients are difficult to obtain, because Chebyshev-Gauss-Lobatto distribution in the present com-
they may be ill conditioned. To overcome the numerical putation are chosen as the following equation:
ill-conditioning in determining the DQ coefficients Dij(m) ,
Quan and Chang [42,43] established a set of algebraic 1é (i - 1)p ù
zi = ê1 - cos ú for i, j = 1, 2, …, N (9)
expressions to calculate the DQ coefficients, namely: 2ë N -1 û

N M (z ) By assuming the reinforced concrete beam strength-

f (z ) @ å f ( zi ) (2)
i =1 ( z - zi ) M 1 ( zi ) ened by epoxy bonded a glass fiber reinforced plastic
plate is long, the strain energy of the reinforced concrete
where beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a glass fiber rein-
forced plastic plate can be simplified as:
N
M (z ) = Õ (z - z j ) , 2 2
j =1
1 L æ ¶ 2u ö 1 L æ ¶ 2u ö
N
Ue = ò
2 0
E1 I1 ç 21 ÷ dz + ò E2 I 2 ç 22 ÷ dz
è ¶z ø 2 0 è ¶z ø
M 1 ( zi ) = Õ (z i - z j ) for i = 1, 2, …, N
j =1, j ¹ i 1 L
+ ò k (u1 - u2 ) dz
2
(10)
2 0
Substituting equation (2) into equation (1) yields:
where E1 is Young’s modulus of the reinforced concrete
M 1 ( zi ) beam and E2 is Young’s modulus of the glass fiber rein-
Dij(1) = for i, j = 1, 2, …, N and i ¹ j
(z j ) ( )
- zi M 1 z j forced plastic plate. u1 is the transverse displacement of
(3) the reinforced concrete beam and u2 is the transverse de-
flection of the glass fiber reinforced plastic plate. I1 is
and the 2nd moment area of concrete beam section and I2 is
228 Ming-Hung Hsu

the 2nd moment area of glass fiber reinforced plastic plate u 2 (L, t ) = 0 (21)
section. k is the stiffness of the epoxy adhesive. The ki-
netic energy of the reinforced concrete beam strength- ¶ 2 u 2 (L, t ) (22)
E2 I 2 =0
ened by epoxy bonded a glass fiber reinforced plastic ¶z 2
plate is
Consider the displacements to be of the form
2 2
1 L æ ¶u ö 1 L æ ¶u ö
T e = ò r1 A1 ç 1 ÷ dz + ò r 2 A2 ç 2 ÷ dz (11)
2 0
è ¶t ø 2 0
è ¶t ø u1 (z , t ) = U1 (z ) exp (iw t ) (23)

where r1 is the density of the material of the concrete u2 (z , t ) = U 2 (z ) exp (iw t ) (24)
beam and r2 is the density of the material of the glass fi-
ber reinforced plastic plate. The cross-section area of the Equations (13) and (14) can be simplified to
concrete beam is A1 and the cross-section area of the
glass fiber reinforced plastic plate is A2. Substituting equ- d2 æ d 2U 1 ö
w 2 r1 A1U 1 = ç E1 I 1 ÷ + k (U 1 - U 2 ) (25)
ations (10) and (11) into Hamilton’s equation, dz 2 è dz 2 ø

ò t (d T - d U )dt = 0
t2 e e
(12) d2 æ d 2U 2 ö
1 w 2 r 2 A2U 2 = ç E2 I 2 ÷ + k (U 2 - U 1 ) (26)
dz 2 è dz 2 ø
the differential equations governing the dynamics of re-
inforced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy bonded The corresponding boundary conditions of the reinfor-
a glass fiber reinforced plastic plate are: ced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a glass
fiber reinforced plastic plate are:
¶ 2 u1 ¶ 2 æ ¶ 2 u1 ö
r1 A1 + ç E I ÷ + k (u1 - u2 ) = 0 (13)
¶t 2 ¶z 2 è
1 1
¶z 2 ø U 1 (0 ) = 0 (27)

¶ 2 u2 ¶ 2 æ ¶ 2 u2 ö d 2U1 (0 ) (28)
r 2 A2 + ç 2 2
E I ÷ + k (u2 - u1 ) = 0 (14) E1 I1 =0
¶t 2 ¶z 2 è ¶z 2 ø dz 2

The corresponding boundary conditions of the reinfor- U 1 (L ) = 0 (29)

ced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a glass
fiber reinforced plastic plate are: d 2U1 (L )
E1 I1 =0 (30)
dz 2
u1 (0, t ) = 0 (15)
U 2 (0 ) = 0 (31)
¶ u1 (0, t )
2
E1 I1 =0 (16)
¶z 2 d 2U 2 (0 )
E2 I 2 =0 (32)
dz 2
u1 (L, t ) = 0 (17)
U 2 (L, t ) = 0 (33)
¶ 2 u1 (L, t )
E1 I1 =0 (18)
¶z 2 d 2U 2 (L )
E2 I 2 =0 (34)
u2 (0, t ) = 0 (19) dz 2

By employing the DQM, the equations of motion of the

¶ 2 u2 (0, t )
E2 I 2 =0 (20) reinforced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy bond-
¶z 2
ed a glass fiber reinforced plastic plate can be discre-
 Concrete Beams Strengthened with Externally Bonded Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic Plates 229

teized in a matrix form as the following equation: Cij = 0

For i ¹ j + N, i = N + 3, N + 4, …, 2N - 2 and j = 1, 2,
[Cij ]{W ( z j )} = w 2 [ M ij ]{W ( z j )} (35) …, N (45)

where Ci,i-N = -k
for i = N + 3, N + 4, … 2N - 2 (46)
ì W (z1 ) ü ì U1 (z1 ) ü
ï ï ï ï
ï W (z 2 ) ï ï U 1 (z 2 ) ï d 2 E2 I 2 ( z ) Di(- N) , j - N dE2 I 2 (z )
2

ï ï ï M ï Cij = +2
M dz 2
L 2
dz
ï ï ï ï z = zi - N z = zi - N
ï W (z N ) ï ïU1 (z N )ï
í ý=í ý (36) (3) (4 )
ïW (z N +1 )ï ï U 2 (z1 ) ï
Di - N , j - N Di - N , j - N
+ E2 I 2 ( zi - N )
ïW (z N + 2 )ï ïU 2 (z2 )ï L3 L4
ï ï ï ï for i ¹ j, i = N + 3, N + 4, …, 2N - 2
ï M ï ï M ï
ï W (z ) ï ïU (z )ï and j = N + 1, N + 2, …, 2N (47)
î 2N þ î 2 N þ
The elements in the mass matrix are: d 2 E2 I 2 ( z ) Di(- N) ,i - N dE2 I 2 (z )
2

Cii = +2
Mii = r1A1 for i = 3, 4, …, N - 2 (37) dz 2 z = zi - N
L2 dz z = zi - N

Di(- )N ,i - N Di(- N) ,i - N
3 4
Mii = r2A2 for i = N + 3, N + 4, …, 2N - 2 (38)
+ E2 I 2 ( zi - N ) +k
L3 L4
Mii = 0 for i = 1, 2, N - 1, N, N + 1, N + 2, 2N - 1, 2N
for i = N + 3, N + 4, …, 2N - 2 (48)
(39)

Mij = 0 for i ¹ j, i = 1, 2, …, 2N and j = 1, 2, …, 2N The boundary conditions of the simple supported rein-
(40) forced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy bonded a
glass fiber reinforced plastic plate can be rearranged into
The elements in the stiffness matrix are: the matrix form as

Dij(
2)
d 2 E1 I1 (z ) dE1 I1 (z ) Dij( ) é 1 0 0 L 0 0 ù
3

Cij = +2 ê (2) ú ì0 ü
dz 2
L 2
dz L 3
ê D11 D (2)
D (2)
D (2)
1, N -1 D1,(2)N ú {U1 ( z j )} = í ý
z = zi z = zi 12 13
L î0 þ
êë L2 L 2
L 2
L2
L2 úû
Dij(
4)

+ E1 I1 (zi ) for j = 1, 2, ..., N (49)

L4
for i ¹ j, i = 3, 4, …, N - 2 and j = 1, 2, …, N (41) é 1 0 0 L 0 0 ù
ê (2) ú ì0 ü
ê D11 D12(2) D13(2) D (2)
1, N -1 D1,(2)N ú {U 2 ( z j )} = í ý
L î0 þ
d E1 I1 (z )
2 (2 )
Dii dE I (z ) Dii (3) ëê L2 L2 L2 L 2
L2 ûú
Cii = +2 1 1
dz 2
L2
dz L3 for j = 1, 2, ..., N (50)
z = zi z=z i

Dii( )
4

+ E1 I1 (zi ) +k é 0 0 0 L 0 1 ù
L4 ê (2) ú ì0 ü
ê DN 1 D (2)
D (2)
D (2)
N , N -1 DN(2), N ú {U1 ( z j )} = í ý
N2 N3
L î0 þ
for i = 3, 4, …, N - 2 (42) êë L2 L2
L 2
L 2
L2 úû
for j = 1, 2, ..., N (51)
Cij = 0
for i ¹ j - N, i = 3, 4, …, N - 2 and j = N + 1, N + 2, é 0 0 0 L 0 1 ù
…2N (43) ê (2) ú ì0 ü
ê DN 1 D (2)
D (2)
D (2)
N , N -1 DN(2), N ú {U 2 ( z j )} = í ý
N2 N3
L î0 þ
Ci,i+N = -k êë L2 L 2
L 2
L 2
L2 úû
for i = 3, 4, …, N - 2 (44) for j = 1, 2, ..., N (52)
230 Ming-Hung Hsu
Figure 8 illustrates the frequencies of the reinforced
concrete beams strengthened by epoxy bonded glass fi-
ber reinforced plastic plates with different thicknesses.
The beam size used is 0.20 m (b) ´ 0.30 m (h) ´ 3.00 m
(L). The beams are reinforced with two D6 bars in the
compression zone, whereas two D9 bars are provided in
the tension. The numerical results show that higher fre-
quencies are found for the beam with a higher thickness
glass fiber reinforced plastic plate. The frequency of the
reinforced concrete beam strengthened by epoxy-bond-
ing a 2 mm thick glass fiber reinforced plastic plate along
the tension face is greater than the frequency of the rein-
forced concrete beam strengthened by no epoxy-bonding
glass fiber reinforced plastic plate for mode 1. The fre-
quencies of the reinforced concrete beam strengthened
by epoxy-bonding a 2 mm thick glass fiber reinforced
plastic plate along the tension face is smaller than the fre-
quency of the reinforced concrete beam strengthened by
no epoxy bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plate for
mode 2 to mode 6.
4. Conclusion
The results conduct that the flexure strength of rein-
forced concrete beams can be significantly increased by
externally bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plates.
The calculated results agreed closely with the measured
results in the literature. This paper demonstrates the dy-
namic behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened
by epoxy bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plates us-
Figure 8. The frequencies of the reinforced concrete beams
strengthened by epoxy bonded glass fiber reinfor-
ced plastic plates with different thicknesses.
ing the DQM. The results indicate that bonding compos-
ite plates to concrete beams increase the stiffness, yield
moment, and flexural strength of the beams. The simplic-
ity of this formulation makes it a desirable candidate for
modeling reinforced concrete beams strengthened by ep-
oxy bonded glass fiber reinforced plastic plates.
References
[1] Saadatmanesh, H. and Ehsani, M. R., “RC Beams St-
rengthened with GFRP Plates. I. Experimental Study,”
Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 117, pp. 3417-
3433 (1991).
[2] Saadatmanesh, H. and Ehsani, M. R., “Flexural Stren-
gth of Externally Reinforced Concrete Beams,” Pro-
ceedings of the First Material Engineering Congress,
pp. 1152-1161 (1990).
[3] Saadatmanesh, H., “Fiber Composites for New and Exi-
sting Structures,” ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 91, pp.
346-354 (1994).
[4] Jin, L., Saadatmanesh, H. and Ehsani, M. R., “Seismic
Retrofit of Existing Reinforced Concrete Columns by
Glass-fiber Composites,” Proceedings of the Materials
Engineering Conference, pp. 758-763 (1994).
[5] Saadatmanesh, H., Ehsani, M. R. and Jin, L., “Seismic
Strengthening of Circular Bridge Pier Models with Fi-
ber Composites,” ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 93, pp.
639-647 (1996).
[6] Tannous, F. E. and Saadatmanesh, H., “Environmental
Effects on the Mechanical Properties of E-glass FRP
Rebars,” ACI Materials Journal, Vol. 95, pp. 87-100
(1998).
[7] Albrecht, P., Li, W. and Saadatmanesh, H., “Fatigue
Strength of Prestressed Composite Steel-concrete
Beams,” Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 121,
pp. 1850-1856 (1995).
[8] Saadatmanesh, H. and Ehsani, M. R., “Fiber Compos-
ite Plates Can Strengthen Beams,” Concrete Interna-
tional: Design and Construction, Vol. 12, pp. 65-71
(1990).
[9] Saadatmanesh, H., Ehsani, M. R. and Li, M. W., “St-
rength and Ductility of Concrete Columns Externally
Reinforced with Fiber Composite Straps,” ACI Struc-
tural Journal, Vol. 91, pp. 434-447 (1994).
[10] Ehsani, M. R., Saadatmanesh, H. and Tao, S., “Bond
Behavior of Deformed GFRP Rebars,” Journal of Com-
 Concrete Beams Strengthened with Externally Bonded Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic Plates
posite Materials, Vol. 31, pp. 1413-1430 (1997).
[11] Saadatmanesh, H., Ehsani, M. R. and Jin, L., “Seismic
Retrofitting of Rectangular Bridge Columns with Com-
posite Straps,” Earthquake Spectra, Vol. 13, pp. 281-
304 (1997).
[12] An, W., Saadatmanesh, H. and Ehsani, M. R., “RC
Beams Strengthened with FRP Plates. II. Analysis and
Parametric Study,” Journal of Structural Engineering,
Vol. 117, pp. 3434-3455 (1991).
[13] Hamoush, S. A. and Ahmad, S. H., Debonding of Steel-
plate-strengthened Concrete Beams, Journal of Stru-
ctural Engineering, Vol. 116, pp. 356-371 (1990).
[14] Adhikary, B. B., Mutsuyoshi, H. and Sano, M., “Shear
Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams Using
Steel Plates Bonded on Beam Web: Experiments and
Analysis,” Construction and Building Materials, Vol.
14, pp. 237-244 (2000).
[15] Adhikary, B. B. and Mutsuyoshi, H., “Numerical Sim-
ulation of Steel-plate Strengthened Concrete Beam by
a Non-linear Finite Element Method Model,” Const-
ruction and Building Materials, Vol. 16, pp. 291-301
(2002).
[16] Garden, H. N. and Hollaway, L. C., “An Experimental
Study of the Failure Modes of Reinforced Concrete
Beams Strengthened with Prestressed Carbon Compo-
site Plates,” Composite Part B, Vol. 29B, pp. 411-424
(1998).
[17] Garden, H. N., Quantrill, R. J., Hollaway, L. C., Thorne,
A. M. and Parke, G. A. R., “An Experimental Study of
the Anchorage Length of Carbon Fibre Composite
Plates Used to Strengthen Reinforced Concrete Beams,”
Construction and Building Materials, Vol. 12, pp. 203-
219 (1998).
[18] Kankam, C. K., “Structural Behavior of Bolted End-
plated Reinforced Concrete Beams,” Materials & De-
sign, Vol. 24, pp. 367-375 (2003).
[19] Subedi, N. K. and Baglin, P. S., “Ultimate Load Analy-
sis of Plate Reinforced Concrete Beams,” Engineering
Structures, Vol. 23, pp. 1068-1079 (2001).
[20] Picard, A., Massicotte, B. and Boucher, E., “Stren-
gthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams with Compo-
site Materials: Theoretical Study,” Composite Struc-
tures, Vol. 33, pp. 63-75 (1995).
[21] Nguyen, N. T., Oehlers, D. J. and Bradford, M. A., “An
Analytical Model for Reinforced Concrete Beams with
Bolted Side Plates Accounting for Longitudinal and
231
Transverse Partial Interaction,” International Journal
of Solids and Structures, Vol. 38, pp. 6985-6996 (2001).
[22] Shen, H. S., Chen, Y. and Yang, J., “Bending and Vi-
bration Characteristics of a Strengthened Plate under
Various Boundary Conditions,” Engineering Structures,
Vol. 25, pp. 1157-1168 (2003).
[23] Ascione, L. and Feo, L., “Modeling of Composite/
Concrete Interface of RC Beams Strengthened with
Composite Laminates,” Composites: Part B, Vol. 31,
pp. 535-540 (2000).
[24] Raoof, M., El-Rimawi, J. A. and Hassanen, M. A. H.,
“Theoretical and Experimental Study on Externally
Plated R.C. Beams,” Engineering Structures, Vol. 22,
pp. 85-101 (2000).
[25] Barnes, R. A. and Mays, G. C., “The Transfer of Stress
through a Steel to Concrete Adhesive Bond,” Interna-
tional Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives, Vol. 21, pp.
495-502 (2001).
[26] Barnes, R. A., Baglin, P. S., Mays, G. C. and Subedi,
N. K., “External Steel Plate Systems for the Shear St-
rengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams,” Engine-
ering Structures, Vol. 23, pp. 1162-1176 (2001).
[27] Sapountzakis, E. J. and Katsikadelis, J. T., “Interface
Forces in Composite Steel-concrete Structure,” Inter-
national Journal of Solids and Structures, Vol. 37, pp.
4455-4472 (2000).
[28] Smith, S. T. and Teng, J. G., “Interfacial Stresses in
Plated Beams,” Engineering Structures, Vol. 23, pp.
857-871 (2001).
[29] Wang, Y. C., “Analytical and Experimental Study on
Seismic Performance of RC T-beams with Design De-
ficiency in Steel Bar Curtailment,” Engineering Struc-
tures, Vol. 25, pp. 215-227 (2003).
[30] Hsu, M. H., Quantitative Analysis of RC Beams St-
rengthened by Externally Bonded GFRP, Master The-
sis, Feng Chia University (1997).
[31] Bellman, R. E. and Casti, J., “Differential Quadrature
and Long-term Integration,” Journal of Mathematical
Analysis and Application, Vol. 34, pp. 235-238 (1971).
[32] Bellman, R. E., Kashef, B. G. and Casti, J., “Differen-
tial Quadrature: A Technique for Rapid Solution of
Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations,” Journal Com-
putational Physics, Vol. 10, pp. 40-52 (1972).
[33] Bert, C. W., Jang, S. K. and Striz, A. G., “Two New
Approximate Methods for Analyzing Free Vibration of
Structural Components,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 26, pp.
232 Ming-Hung Hsu
612-618 (1988).
[34] Bert, C. W. and Malik, M., “Free Vibration Analysis of
Tapered Rectangular Plates by Differential Quadrature
Method: a Semi-analytical Approach,” Journal of Sound
and Vibration, Vol. 190, pp. 41-63 (1996).
[35] Bert, C. W. and Mailk, M., “Differential Quadrature
Method in Computational Mechanics: A Review,” Ap-
plied Mechanics Review, Vol. 49, pp. 1-28 (1996).
[36] Bert, C. W. and Malik, M., “On the Relative Effects of
Transverse Shear Deformation and Rotary Inertia on
the Free Vibration of Symmetric Cross-ply Laminated
Plates,” Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 193, pp.
927-933 (1996).
[37] Bert, C. W., Wang, X. and Striz, A. G., “Differential
Quadrature for Static and Free Vibration Analysis of
Anisotropic Plates,” International Journal of Solids and
Structures, Vol. 30, pp. 1737-1744 (1993).
[38] Bert, C. W., Wang, X. and Striz, A. G., “Convergence
of the DQ Method in the Analysis of Anisotropic
Plates,” Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 170, pp.
140-144 (1994).
[39] Jang, S. K., Bert, C. W. and Striz, A. G., “Application
of Differential Quadrature to Static Analysis of Struc-
tural Components,” International Journal for Numeri-
cal Methods in Engineering, Vol. 28, pp. 561-577 (1989).
[40] Wang, X. and Bert, C. W., “A New Approach in Ap-
plying Differential Quadrature to Static and Free Vi-
brational Analyses of Beams and Plates,” Journal of
Sound and Vibration, Vol. 162, pp. 566-572 (1993).
[41] Malik, M. and Bert, C. W., “Implementing Multiple
Boundary Conditions in the DQ Solution of Higher-
order PDE’s Application to Free Vibration of Plates,”
International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engi-
neering, Vol. 39, pp. 1237-1258 (1996).
[42] Quan, J. R. and Chang, C. T., “New Insights in Solving
Distributed System Equations by the Quadrature Met-
hod-I. Analysis,” Computers in Chemical Engineer-
ing, Vol. 13, pp. 779-788 (1989).
[43] Quan, J. R. and Chang, C. T., “New Insights in Solving
Distributed System Equations by the Quadrature Met-
hod-II. Numerical Experiments,” Computers in Chem-
ical Engineering, Vol. 13, pp. 1017-1024 (1989).
[44] Sherbourne, A. N. and Pandey, M. D., “Differential
Quadrature Method in the Buckling Analysis of Beams
and Composite Plates,” Computers and Structures, Vol.
40, pp. 903-913 (1991).
[45] Feng, Y. and Bert, C. W., “Application of the Quadra-
ture Method to Flexural Vibration Analysis of a Geo-
metrically Nonlinear Beam,” Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol.
3, pp. 13-18 (1992).
[46] Chen, W. and Zhong, T., “The Study on the Nonlinear
Computations of the DQ and DC Methods,” Journal of
Numerical Method for Partial Differential Equations,
Vol. 13, pp. 57-75 (1997).
[47] Chen, R. P., Zhou, W. H., Wang, H. Z. and Chen, Y. M.,
“One-dimensional Nonlinear Consolidation of Multi-
layered Soil by Differential Quadrature Method,” Com-
puters and Geotechnics, Vol. 32, pp. 358-369 (2005).
[48] Tomasiello, S., “Differential Quadrature Method: Ap-
plication to Initial-boundary-value Problems,” Journal
of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 218, pp. 573-585 (1998).
Manuscript Received: Dec. 21, 2004
Accepted: Nov. 4, 2005