THE 7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

"CIVIL ENGINEERING - SCIENCE AND PRACTICE"

GNP 2020 – Kolašin, Montenegro, 10-14 March 2020

Nicola Nisticò1

FRP MATERIALS FOR STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract
Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP), consisting of a combination of resin and fiber materials,
were proposed between the 1960s and 1970s for aeronautic, aerospace and naval applications.
Sporadic realizations to civil structures were performed, such as: 1) the “house of the future”,
built in the Disneyland Park of Anaheim, California in 1957; 2) a reinforced-plastic pedestrian
bridge erected in Tel-Aviv, Israel in 1972. Starting in the 1980s further FRP applications were
made regarding the repair and retrofitting of existing structures, thanks to developments in
Japan and Europe.
The growth in demand of civil applications stimulated the implementation of codes and
standards that defined the required performances for the retrofitting of existing structure, as
well as the realization of new structures, such as composite bridges and buildings or concrete
structures reinforced with FRP bars.
In this framework, the author has been involved in a set of research programs, the results of
which are discussed in this paper. The studies performed regard experimental tests, analytical
and numerical modelling that are based on micro-plane and lattice approaches.
The work is organized in two parts, the first regards External Bonded Reinforcement (EBR) for
the reinforcement of existing structures, and the second, pultruded FRP elements for new
structures.
The EBR study concerns the confinement of axial loaded concrete elements, as well as flexural
and shear strengthening.
The study on FRP elements are finalized to the design, in progress, of a composite cable stayed
pedestrian bridge.
Key words
FRP, mechanical properties, retrofitting, experimental tests, micro-plane modeling,lattice
modelling.

1
Associate Professor, Department od Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Industrial
Engigneering, Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), nicola.nistico@uniroma1

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1. INTRODUCTION

Existing concrete structures usually need global as well as local intervention strategies to
repair, improve or render them adequate to current standards. Among the local strategies, that can
be pursued to obtain a generalized structural improvement as well, FRP wrapping can be
considered the one of the most efficient for columns and bridge piers: 1) it can increase ultimate
concrete axial strain as well as shear strength; 2) opportunely conceived, it is suitable to increase
joint performance when seismic actions are concerned. Further, flexural capacity increase can be
required for seismic as well non seismic actions. In all the aforementioned strategies, the
debonding phenomena have to be controlled.
Systematic studies [1-3] on confined concrete date back to the 70s. The Popopivics model
[4] was the base of the model proposed in Mander et al. [5] where an extension has been proposed
for the evaluation of the peak strength based on the William and Warnke criterion [2]. Spoelstra
and Monti [6], stressing the difference between steel and FRP confined section, proposed an
uniaxial model tailored for FRP confinement: 1) for steel confinement, at low value of the concrete
axial strain, the confining steel device yields, maintaining a constant confinement action up to
concrete failure; the confinement is denoted as active; 2) in case of FRP materials the confinement
action continuously increases up to the ultimate condition that usually corresponds to FRP failure;
the confinement is defined passive. The Spoelstra and Monti model has been applied in [7] for the
upgrading design of bridge circular piers.
Most confinement models are conceived for circular elements where, under uniaxial
compression, the confinement pressure is uniform across the section: the instantaneous pressure is
explicit at each increment of lateral strain. The extension to square/rectangular sections is generally
pursued, introducing a reduction factor based on the arching action originally adopted for RC
columns by Sheikh and Uzumeri [8]. Not disputing the validity of the empirical formulations, the
lower FRP confinement efficiency has been justified for square/rectangular sections, in [9-12]: due
to the not uniform confinement stress field, the local concrete performance is position dependent as
well as the local axial stress-strain relationships.
Further, the influence of the section corner radius is numerical justified in Gambarelli et al
[13] through a micro plane based model adopted to simulate the experimental tests reported in
[14]. Regarding shear [15-20] and flexural reinforcement, prevalently conditioned by debonding
[21-25], most of the studies regarded the conventional arrangement of the FRP system. New
arrangements have been proposed, validating them through experimental tests [26,27] and adopting
a micro-plane based model [28,29] to explain some evidences.
Some, not many, FRP structures have been already realized. Among them all-composite
bridges can be considered, due to their lightness and no corrosion problems, an alternative to steel
and concrete bridges. Hollaway discussed the topic in [30]. Regarding vehicular bridges, adopted
solutions combine FRP beam with reinforced concrete slabs. Hand lay-up process can be combined
with Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM): in the framework of a pilot process, an
all composite road bridge [31,32] has been designed, produced and realized in Rzeszow (Poland).
Road bridges, having FRP beams, have been realized in Spain [33,34]. Regarding pedestrian
bridges, pioneering realizations can be considered those concerning cable stayed typology, such as
the Aberfeldy (Scotland) [35,36] and the Kolding (Denmark) [37].
In this framework the author has been involved in a pilot project [38] for the design of a
pedestrian cable stayed solution. The ongoing design process involved experimental and numerical

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modeling activities to study, among others. local problems that concern pultruded elements and to
characterize the Glass FRP material to be adopted for the bridge structural elements.
One of the problems of the pultruded beam, regards the weakness of the Web-Flange
Junction (WFJ) as showed, among others, by Feo et al in [39]. Thus the WFJ problems were
numerically investigated [40] through a lattice based approach [40] conceived for FRP elements
based on a methodology implemented by Fascetti et al [41] for concrete elements. The local
behavior of a commercial Pultruded I-shaped GFRP element, was further investigated by Quadrino
et al [42], in order to: 1) evaluate the mechanical properties of the adopted orthotropic material
according to different fiber orientations; 2) check the validity of the Tsai Hill Criterion [43] and 3)
investigate the capacity of the WFJ through a novel test setup. The Lattice model proposed in [40]
was further developed [44] and tested against the experimental results reported in [42].
All the studies carried out, clearly showed the need to implement a robust Digital Image
Correlation (DIC) software for displacement field measurements. A preliminary version of the DIC
system has been presented in [45].

2. FRP MATERIAL FOR EXISTING STRUCTURE RETROFITTING

The main aspects, to be dealt with, concern axial, shear and flexural capacities and their
interaction. International standards [46,47] rule standard situations. For non-standard retrofitting
configuration, experimental and numerical activities are needed to support the design process: this
is the case of the two solutions proposed for column and beam retrofitting for which a) a
combination of steel angles and FRP wraps (Fig. 1a) was proposed in [9,26] and b) a not
conventional solution has been proposed [27], consisting of a flexural FRP reinforcement with a
tapering depth (Fig. 1c).
Previous outlined issues stimulated experimental and numerical studies supported by
simple analytical/numerical solutions [10-12] for the confinement and the use of microplane based
models. Nonlinear FEM analyses have been carried according to the formulation proposed by
Ožbolt et al [48], that is a modification of the model proposed by Bažant and Prat [49].
The software MASA [50] has been adopted. The formulation is reported in Fig. 2: 1) at
each Integration Point (IP) the strain tensor is projected along a finite number of directions
orthogonal to the micro-planes; 2) splitting the strains in normal (εN, one component) and shear
strains (εM,,εK, two components), the volumetric, deviatoric and shear components are obtained at
microplane level; 3) finally the macroscopic stress tensor is evaluated based on the principal of
virtual work. So that the macroscopic stress and strain tensors opportunely take in account the
concrete behavior at micro level.
Regarding steel angle solution (Fig 1a), the main issues to be solved were the evaluation of
1) the steel angle contribution [9] and 2) the influence of the thixotropic mortar placed in between
the concrete and FRP (Fig 1b); in the case of prevalent shear action [26], the mortar force the
interaction between the concrete and FRP so that a) the angle between fiber alignment and
principal strain could increase and c) the FRP strength decreases. With regard of the tapered
flexural reinforcement (Fig. 1c), the main issue was the influence of the FRP thickness on the FRP
debonding.

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a
)
C-FRP

Steel Angle
FR Mortar

c b
) )
Figure 1. a) Column - typical configuration: unconfined concrete (1), concrete with CFRP (2) and
steel angles (3); b) detail of steel angle solution; c) flexural CFRP reinforced beam having three
layers with length equal (inner layer) to and a half (outermost layers) of the beam span

Figure 2. Micro-plane based strategy

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2.1. EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

Compression tests regarded square (200 200 mm) and rectangular (200 300 and 200
400 mm) concrete columns, 1400 mm long. All the specimens had rounded edges with a radius of
20 mm. For each typical section, three different configurations were considered (Fig. 1): Un
Wrapped (UW); fully Wrapped (W); and fully Wapped, with L-shaped steel angles placed at the
corners (WL). The specimens were monitored (Fig 3) through transducers, mechanical gauges,
strain gauges and ultrasonic speed measurement to control concrete damage evolution. The local
strain (Fig. 4) was obtained by approximating, with a polynomial, the displacement field along the
specimen height and differentiating it with respect to the vertical coordinate. For each test, stress–
strain relationship was determined. One of the main conclusions was that the contribution of the L-
shaped angles was exploited in full measure.

Figure 3. Axial loaded column - Experimental set up and instrument position (T = Transverse, V =
Vertical): load cell (1) jack (2); steel plates (3,4); Ultrasonic Gages (5); basement (6); vertical
transducers (7); strain gauges (8)

Figure 4. Axial loaded column (1: UW; 2: W; 3: WL). (Top) - Force monitoring in the time for
200x200 (a) and 200x400 (b) sections; (Down) - 200x200 section: a) displacement (mm) and b)
axial strain along the vertical position (ordinate).

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Regarding shear tests, different reinforcement configurations have been considered, in order
to evaluate the strength increases. The results, presented here, concern the reference beam and
three more configurations, namely (Fig. 5): a) Carbon Wrapping; b) Carbon Wrapping and L
shaped steel profiles (6×800 mm) considering or not the presence of thixotropic mortar (Fig. 1b).
The tests showed that, in the presence of steel angles, the higher shear strength is achieved when
mortar is not present..

Figure 5. Experimental tests: 1) Reference Beam (Vmax = 81.37 kN); 2) FRP reinforced beam
(Vmax = 230.30 37 kN); 3) FRP reinforced beam with steel angle and mortar (Vmax = 234.42
kN); 4) FRP reinforced beam with steel angle and without mortar (Vmax = 261.84 kN);
Regarding flexural reinforcement, debonding has to be carefully controlled. Different
mechanisms have been prosed and, among these, those prosed by Chen and Teng [51] are reported
in Fig. 6a. According to the Italian Recommendation [47] four prevalent debonding mechanisms
can be identified (Fig. 6b): 1) sheet-end debonding (Mode 1); 2) debonding caused by intermediate
flexural (Mode 2) and diagonal (Mode 3) cracks; 4) debonding caused by irregularities and
roughness of concrete surface (Mode 4).
In this framework, the efficiency of different reinforcement configurations has been
investigated in [27]. Together with the unreinforced (reference) beam, other three configurations
have been considered, among others. These are (Fig 7): 1) I2L, where a) one FRP layer has been
applied along the whole beam length and b) two more layers have been applied in the intermediate
half beam length; 2) I2L-UJ that, maintaining the I2L configuration, includes four diagonal U
Jacketed strips; 3) I3L-UJ, that includes a) three equal length longitudinal strips and b) four
diagonal U jacketed strips.
Main conclusions were: 1) interruption of part of the longitudinal CFRP strips could trigger
the delamination due to the stress concentration at the FRP discontinuity; FRP efficiency is
excluded: the peak load is lower if compared with the reference beam; 2) the diagonal U jacketed
strips inhibit the longitudinal FRP debonding and 3) their efficiency is greater when the
longitudinal strips have equal lengths (I3L-UJ).

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a)

b)
Figure 6. RC beams FRP flexural–strengthened. Debonding mechanisms proposed in a) [51] and
b) [47]

Figure 7. Flexural reinforcement and I2L beam delamination [27]

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2.2. ANALYTICAL AND NUMERYCAL MICROPLANE MESO MODELING

Simplified models, for confinement effect prediction, assume (Fig. 8) the existence of an
effective confined area: the confinement transversal stress is derived reducing the stress pertaining
to an equivalent circular section. The assumption, originally proposed for steel based confined [8],
was extended to FRP confined sections for which it is mandatory to round the corner sections
before the FRP applications.

Figure 8. Confined and unconfined core for steel (left) confined [8] and FRP (right) confined
section [47]

The studies carried out in [9] stimulated simple elastic FEM analyses to identify the FRP
induced confinement stress field. The results can be summarized as follows (Fig. 9): 1) the in plane
stress-strain relationship depends, at local level, on the in plane principal stresses; 2) the minimum
(max in absolute) compressive stress (σmin) can be assumed almost constant far from the corner; 3)
the ratio (between minimum and maximum stresses) a) is equal to one at the section centre and 2)
tends to zero approaching the section sides. As far as rectangular sections are concerned the
previous outlined trend can be depicted in Fig. 10, from where the idea of two equivalent sections
is evident. Based on the knowledge of the confinement stress field, a simple procedure (Fig. 11) for
the evaluation of the local and global axial stress-strain relationship was conceived [10,11]. The
methodology was recently integrated [12] based on the local test reported in [52,53].

Figure 9 Square section - confined stress field: a) normalized minimum stresses and b) min/max
stress ratio [9]

As far as square/rectangular sections are concerned, the main problems to be solved are
those consequent to the damage localization at the corners when small radii are considered. The
problem is not easily solvable with continuous numerical models. Some results have been obtained

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[12] using a micro-plane based approach, modelling concrete, resin and fiber (Fig. 12). Different
corner radii have been considered obtaining satisfactory result simulating the test reported in [54].
It is worth noting that the adopted model was not able to capture the experimentally observed fiber
crack, that was imposed reducing fiber strength and stiffness at the corner.

Figure 10 Rectangular section - confined stress field: a) normalized minimum stresses and b)
min/max stress ratio [8]

Figure 11 Square FRP confined section – local axial stress-strain relationship [11]

Figure 12 Confined section. Micro-plane model and principal strain at the corner [13]
Regarding FRP shear reinforcement numerical simulations have been carried out for two of
those cases reported in Fig. 5. Models and results of the FRP case (without steel angle) are
reported in Figs. 13 and 14. Micro-plane models have been adopted, for both concrete and FRP: 1)
steel bars have been modelled by means of nonlinear frame elements; 2) the contact between FRP
and concrete has been modelled with contact elements which include shear as well as axial non

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linearity; 3) the FRP model takes in account the strength dependence on the strain direction. The
stress evolution with the crack opening (Fig 14), outlines that: 1) the strips are not uniformly
loaded; 2) the maximum stress reached in the FRP is approximately equal to 2000 MPa that
correspond to ≈ 70% of the average experimental strength value when the fibre orientation is
parallel to that applied load; 3) the strength reduction (30% ) can be attributed (Fig 13) to the
direction of maximum principal strains which form, with the fibre direction, an angle of
approximately 8°.

Figure 13 Shear FRP reinforcement. Model and FRP strength dependence on fiber/stress angle
[28]

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Figure 14 Shear FRP reinforcement: 1) Model and 2) strip stresses at 15 and 42mm [28]

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The micro plane based approach has been also applied to simulate the case concerning the
hybrid system (with steel angle, without mortar). The steel angles have been modelled with solid
elastic elements. The crack pattern is reported in Fig. 15. It can be observed that 1) the FRP stress
is more distributed among the strips, if compared with the non hybrid solution (Fig. 14); 2) the
maximum reached stress (≈ 1800 Mpa) corresponds to ≈ 65% of the experimental strength value
(Fig. 13); 3) strip activation starts from strip #1 (the closest to the load) and then involves in
sequence strips #2,3. Further, it is worth noting the role of the localization, with a consequent not
symmetric structural behaviour: a suddenly collapse of the left side strips is triggered after the
propagation of the second crack.

a) 1st and 2nd diagonal crack - activation of strip #1 b) activation of the strip # 2

c) activation of strip # 3 and immediate activation d) activation of the 3rd diagonal crack and
of the left side strips column collapse

Figure 15 Shear FRP reinforcement: steel angle, without mortar, configuration: 1) strip stresses
and crack propagation [29]

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3. FRP MATERIAL FOR NEW STRUCTURES

The “House of the Future” (Fig. 16) can be considered the first construction conceived and
realized in plastic. Some details are reported in [55] were the main advantages of the adopted
material are pioneering traced: 1) “prefabrication into new forms and shapes, economy and
durability”; 2) “lightness of weight with a high strength-to-weight ratio; resistance to corrosion and
wear; controllable thermal and electrical resistance”; 3) “easy formability; adaptability to
production line or factory assembly methods;” 4) “complete color penetration; light controlling
properties”. As far as the knowledge of the authors is concerned, the first book on the topic was
published in 1956 [56]: different innovative concepts were introduced, and the production
processes were described (Fig. 17), among which the Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding
(VARTM) is included. It should be noted that VARTM, is currently considered an advanced
process for the production of an FRP bridge deck [32]. A critical review, of the FRP composites in
the civil infrastructure, is traced by Hollaway in [30] where it is reported that the first FRP bridge
was built in Tel-Aviv, Israel in 1972. Later, other bridges have been erected: some of which are
reported in Fig. 18.

Figure 16 “The House of the future” - Disneyland Park of Anaheim (California) [55]

Figure 17 Composite production processes [56]: 1) hand lay up; 2) spary up; 3) matched die
molding; 4) vacuum technology; 5) pultrusion; 6) filament winding. 7) Vacuum Assisted Resin
Transfer Molding [32]

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Figure 18 Examples of a) Full composite pedestrian Bridges: 1) Leila (Spain) [57]; 2) Prato
(Italy) [58]; 3) Aberfeldy (Scotland) [35,36];4) Kolding (Denmark) [37]; b) road bridges with
FRP deck - M111 freeway, Madrid (Spain) [33] : 5) deck soffit and 6) construction phase

After pioneering applications, some topics have been ruled by international standards [59-
61], defining required performance and methodologies to be adopted for element and joint
verifications. In this framework, the author has been involved in a pilot project [38] that regards
the design of a full FRP pedestrian bridge; it is a cable stayed FRP bridge with (Fig. 19) four
intermediate spans and two access ramps respectively 37.0 and 18.5 meters long. The deck and
antenna elements have been conceived as pultruded Glass FRP elements. The cable consists of
Carbon FRP elements connected to deck and antennas, through steel wedge anchorages.

Figure 19 Proposed full composite cable stayed bridges [38]

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The design of the bridge involves experimental activities and numerical modeling that are
based on lattice model [62-64] and the main steps are summarized in Fig 20: the model is built
discretizing a given structure into rigid blocks interconnected by means of 1D elements that
generally have 6 degrees of freedom for each node. Opportune simplifications can be considered,
as in the proposed approach, where the struts only resist axial forces, so that their transversal
stiffness is neglected.
The definition of the model aims at the discretization of the domain into discrete cells (the
Voronoi polytopes) that interact through the one dimensional elements (i.e. the lattice struts)
,defined by the Delaunay tetrahedralization.
Generally, the preliminary point set generation consists of a full random process that, for
composite materials, could be considered adequate when crack is due to tensile action localized in
the resin: this is the case of the study [40] carried out for the simulation of web-flange behavior of
pultruded GFRP I-beams.
For more complex condition, it has been evaluated [44] that a better performance can be
achieved with a “semi-random” modeling approach: two different point sets, regular and random,
are independently generated and subsequently merged.

Figure 20. 2D and 3D example of lattice model: a) 2D set point generation and Delaunay
triangulation (dashed lines); b) 2D Voronoi tessellation (gray solid lines); c) 2D lattice element
(red line); d) 2D lattice element and relative cross section (solid gray lines) e) 3D example of
lattice element (red) and cross section (gray surface)

3.1. EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

Mechanical properties of pultruded element are given by the producers, along two
perpendicular directions: along and orthogonal to the main fiber orientation that coincides with the
pulling direction. The stack sequence of the layers forming the element is not accurately described,
nor the resin and fiber material properties. Given the mechanical properties along the two mutually
orthogonal directions, the standard mechanical verification approach is based on 1) the elastic
theory for orthotropic material, when elasticity moduli are needed and 2) the application of the

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Tsai-Hill criterion [43] as far as strength is needed along directions different than orthogonal to the
plane of symmetry. Thus it is possible to evaluate the mechanical properties along the required
direction, defined: 1) in the space, through three angles and 2) in the plane through one angle (see
Fig. 21).
It is worth noting that pultruded elements are characterized by a lack of adequate
performance at the Web-Flange Junctions: the problem is discussed by Turvey and Zhang [65]
among others: due to the fiber prevalence along the longitudinal profile direction, cracks are
activated as reported in Fig. 22, due to the lack of adequate reinforcement (not easily includable
during the manufacturing process).

Figure 21. Glass FRP specimen: Mechanical properties characterization

Figure 22. Web-Flange Junction: typical crack pattern [65]

A first experimental campaign regarded 22 specimens, opportunely shaped from one

pultruded beam (Fig. 23). The beam is representative of the bridge (Fig. 19). The specimen strains
have been monitored through gauges. The experimental results were compared (Fig. 23) with
analytical solutions, in terms of strength and Young moduli. The theoretical solutions depend on
shear modulus (G) and strength that was indirectly evaluated with a best fitting procedure.

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Figure 23 Mechanical property characterization of pultrude I-profiles [38]

Further experimental studies regarded the Web-Flange Junction (WFJ) of the profile that
was already studied by Feo et al [39]: 1) the test set up is reported in Fig. 24; 2) the profile length
ranges between 200 and 1200 mm. In this regards, the goal was to conceive a simple tensile set up:
a small specimen has been obtained, through the referring beam, as reported in Fig. 25. The

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experimental-based conclusions confirmed the weakness of the WFJ and that: 1) the failure pattern,
starting around the triangular shaped rich core, propagates along the flanges (inter-laminar crack);
2) the net stress, obtained dividing the peak load by the web area, ranging between 20 and 25 MPa,
is lower (≈ 50%) than the resin tensile strength; 3) the low strength value could be attributed to
residual stress due to thermal effect and multi layered configuration of the specimens.

Figure 24 Experimental test on web-flange junctions of I-profiles [39]

Figure 25 Proposed experimental test on web-flange junctions of I-profiles [38]

3.2. NUMERYCAL LATTICE MESO MODELING

Consolidated literature on lattice models concerns concrete simulations: one of the main
issues is the evaluation of the concrete performance at different level of scale. Usually, lower is the
scale greater are the values of the mechanical parameters (e.g. strength, Young modulus) that are
indirectly estimated through best fitting strategies. Differently, in Fascetti et al [41] a multiscale

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experimental approach has been defined and carried out evaluating on small specimens the stress-
strain relationships for compression, tension and shear (see Fig 26). The approach provided
satisfactory results in terms of cylinder and cube strength predictions.
The lattice approach, developed for concrete elements, was further adapted to study the
already discussed test on the Web-Flange Junction (Fig. 24) and the glass FRP specimens (Fig.
23). Main results are, respectively, sketched in Figs 27,28. The approach proposed is for sure
interesting and promising. However, more work, is needed and it is the opinion of the author that
the support of new DIC technique [66] is fundamental to capture the damage evolution, at meso
level, for the evaluation of fracture energy.

Figure 26 Mesoscale experimental tests – stress-strain relationships: a) compression; b) tension;

c) shear. Cube specimens: d) experimental and numerical: numerical vs experimental results; e)
observed and evaluated damage [41]

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Figure 27 Lattice model application for FRP elements: Web-flange junctions of I-profiles: lattice
Model Application [40]

Figure 28 Lattice model application for FRP specimens [44]: comparison in terms of force-
displacement curve and crack opening [mm]- Fiber orientation of 90° and 20°

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LITERATURE

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J., 66, 1969, 656-666
[2] K. J. William and E. P. Warnke, “Constitutive model for the triaxial behaviour of
concrete,”, IABSE Re port, 19, III, 1-30, ISMES-Bergamo, Italy, 1974
[3] N. S. Ottosen, “A failure criterion for concrete,” J. Eng. Mech. Div., ASCE, 103, 1997,
EM4, 527-533
[4] S. Popovics, “Mechanical behavior of materials” Proc. the Int. Conf. on Mechanical
Behavior of Materials, IV, 1972., Japan 172-83
[5] J. B. Mander, M. J. N. Priestley, and R. Park, “Theoretical stress–strain model for confined
concrete,” J. Struct. Eng., ASCE, 114, No. 8, 1998, 1804-1826
[6] M. Spoelstra, and G. Monti, “FRP-confined concrete model,”J. Compos. Con struct.,
ASCE, 3(3), 1999, 143-150
[7] G. Monti, N. Nisticò and S. Santini, “Design of FRP Jackets for Upgrade of Circuilar
Bridges Piers“ J. Compos. Construct., ASCE, 5, 2001, 94-101
[8] Sheikh, S. A. and Uzumeri, S. M., Strength and ductility of tied concrete columns, Journal
of the structural division, 106(ST5), 1980, 1079-102.
[9] G. Monti, N. Nisticò, “Square and rectangular concrete columns confined by CFRP:
experimental and numerical investigation. Mech. Compos. Mater., 44(3), 2008,289–308.
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strength”, Composites: Part B, 45(1), 2013, 127–37
[11] N. Nisticò, “R.C. square sections confined by FRP: A numerical procedure for predicting
stress-strain relationships”, Composites: Part B, 59(3), 2014, 238–47
[12] J. Jang, P. Li, N. Nisticò, “Local and global prediction on stress-strain behavior of FRP-
confined square concrete sections”, Composites Structures 226, 2019, 111205
[13] S. Gambarelli, N. Nisticò, J. Ozbolt,, “Numerical analysis of compressed concrete columns
confined with CFRP: microplane based approach”, Composites: Part B, 67, 2014, 303–12.
[14] L-M Wang, Y-F Wu, “Effects of corner radius on the performance of CFRPconfined
square concrete columns: test”, Eng Struct , 30(2), 2008, 493–505
[15] B. Taljsten, “Strengthening of concrete structures for shear with bonded CFRP fabrics”, In:
Meier U, Betti R, editors. Recent advances in bridge engineering. Switzerland: EMPA,
1997,67–74
[16] T.C. Triantafillou, “Shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams using epoxy-bonded
FRP composites”, ACI Struct J, 95(2), 1998,107–15
[17] J.F. Chen, J.G.Teng, “Shear capacity of fiber-reinforced polymer-strengthened reinforced
concrete beams: fiber reinforced polymer rupture”, ASCE J. Struct. Eng.129(5), 2003,
615–25
[18] J.F. Chen, J.G. Teng , “Shear capacity of FRP-strengthened RC beams: FRP Debonding”,
Constr Build Mater 17, 2003, 27–41
[19] G. Monti, M.A. Liotta , “Tests and design equations for FRP-strengthening in shear” Constr
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