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CFRP Seismic Collector for Concrete Diaphragms

Conference Paper · January 2009

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FRPRCS-9 Sydney, Australia Monday 13 – Wednesday 15 July 2009

CFRP SEISMIC COLLECTOR FOR CONCRETE DIAPHRAGMS

Owen A. ROSENBOOM 1 Brian E. KEHOE 2

1
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., Emeryville, CA

Keywords: reinforced concrete, diaphragm, strengthening, collector, finite element analysis, field
application

1 INTRODUCTION

In lateral-force-resisting systems, seismic collectors are important components which transfer

seismic forces through the diaphragm to the vertical elements. This transfer of forces may be crucial
for many reasons. In some buildings collectors are designed for lower stories to transfer lateral forces
around large atrium openings. In existing buildings they may be required, either to transfer forces
away from an area of historic significance (due to historic finishes perhaps) or to make up for
deficiencies in the existing lateral-force-resisting system. Take for instance a reinforced concrete
manufacturing facility which desires to add new equipment in a region of high seismicity. The new
equipment demands slab openings on several levels, affecting the lateral load carrying capability of
the diaphragm to transfer forces to the shear walls. Thickening of the existing slab would worsen the
problem clearly, leading to higher seismic forces from the added weight. With the use of FRP, large
forces can be transferred with negligible weight addition.
No past research has been conducted on the seismic retrofit of concrete diaphragms with CFRP;
previous research being concerned with slab behavior under gravity loads. Although the force transfer
mechanism in FRP collectors bonded to concrete during a seismic event is complex, they are often
designed to resist tensile forces only, an assumption often unconservative since unidirectional fabric
may be stressed in complex ways during a seismic event. The concrete itself may or may not be
cracked when the FRP is originally applied, which changes the debonding behavior of the FRP under
tensile load. Even within the same bay, the slab may be cracked depending on whether tension or
compression forces exist when FRP installation occurs. When applying lateral forces so that the FRP
solely resists tension, the resulting condition (one in which the FRP and concrete are under tension) is
similar to the case of a simply-supported beam with FRP affixed to the soffit, except that in a seismic
collector the model assumes that the tensile forces are applied directly through lateral acceleration
and force transfer, not through flexural action.
In the first part of this paper an FRP field application for the strengthening of a concrete diaphragm
is presented. This is followed by a brief discussion of what current FRP codes say (or do not say)
about seismic collectors. Also, a simple finite element model is presented which shows clearly the
effect of FRP thickness (number of layers) on the behavior of FRP strengthened diaphragms,
something current codes neglect to address.

2 FIELD APPLICATION

In the United States the seismic rehabilitation structures is often designed using the provisions of
ASCE 41 [1]. This document requires that collectors be "monolithic with the slab" "occurring either
within the thickness or [be] thicker than the slab". In computer modelling of the lateral-force-resisting
system, the displacement characteristics of the diaphragm should be used to determine whether the
diaphragm is rigid, stiff, or flexible, but the diaphragm itself can be modelled as a beam supported on
"elements of varying stiffness" [1].
An existing manufacturing building, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, was proposed to have
large openings cut in the reinforced concrete floor slabs to allow for the installation of new equipment.
The structure is four stories tall and is constructed with interior concrete columns and perimeter
concrete shear walls. The proposed slab openings reduced the effectiveness of the diaphragm to
transfer horizontal forces to the shear walls.
To compensate for the loss of diaphragm strength, several retrofit schemes were evaluated.
Thickening of the existing diaphragm with concrete and additional reinforcing was considered too
disruptive to the ongoing operations and would add significant seismic weight. An FRP retrofit would
add significant capacity to the remaining diaphragm while contributing very little weight.

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FRPRCS-9 Sydney, Australia Monday 13 – Wednesday 15 July 2009

The FRP option was chosen as the retrofit and the design was installed in the facility with a
disruption to service operations of only two days. The FRP was applied in strips along the top surface
of the bays containing the slab openings. These strips were extended into bays without openings
which were then strengthened with bi-directional sheets designed to resist the increased shear forces.
The installed FRP system after application of a no-slip topping coat is shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1 Manufacturing facility after the application of FRP system

3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

The program Adina [3] was used to perform a simple finite element simulation of a typical collector
similar to the one in the manufacturing facility described above. The purpose of the simulation was
twofold: 1) to determine if the thickness of the FRP had an inverse relationship with strength, and 2) to
determine the likely failure mode of the strengthened diaphragm. A static analysis was performed with
non-linear material models for the concrete and FRP-concrete interface, a linear-elastic material
model for the FRP, and a elastic-plastic model for the reinforcing steel.
The geometry was modeled to scale and each reinforcing bar was included in the analysis. The
concrete, interface, and FRP were meshed using 3-d solid elements and the reinforcing steel was
meshed using truss elements. During data file generation, Adina applies constraints between the truss
elements and the surrounding 3-d matrix resulting in a no-slip assumption. The amount of slab
reinforcing was taken from the original design drawings as 16 mm bars at 200 mm, each way, each
face.
The sophisticated concrete model in Adina considers a tri-axial failure envelope compression
crushing behavior. The tensile failure (i.e. cracking) is accomplished using discrete tensile failure
planes and a modified post-cracking stiffness matrix which uses a stiffness reduction of nearly 100
percent and a shear reduction of 50 percent.
Numerical values from the simplified model in Lu et al. [4] were used as material constants for the
FRP-concrete interface elements. They were modeled in Adina as 3-D solid elements utilizing the
advanced tensile failure properties of the concrete material model.
The FRP material was modeled as uniform elastic; orthotropic properties were not utilized as a
result of the simplified loading scenario.
The loading was applied using ground acceleration to give uniform directionality to the tensile
loading. The boundary conditions approximated the field conditions of one of the collectors shown
above, with one end fixed (representing the dead end of the FRP collector) and one face restrained in
the z-direction. This restraint recognizes the fact that the collector is near a line of columns and
deflection due to gravity loads will be negligible, it also prevents (for modelling purposes) rotation due
to non-uniform stiffness through the section.

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FRPRCS-9 Sydney, Australia Monday 13 – Wednesday 15 July 2009

More detailed results of the FE model can be found in an upcoming paper [5].
Some preliminary results from the FE model are shown below in Figures 2 and 3. Two models
were created: one with a thickness of FRP representing 2 layers and another with a thickness of 10
layers. The failure mode of both models was FRP debonding from the fixed end.
The model demonstrates that when subjected to pure axial tension the FRP thickness has an
inverse relationship with strength. Debonding of the collector occurs at an earlier FRP tensile strain
when the thickness of the FRP is greater. Equations relating the influence of concrete strength and
stiffness of FRP for the pure axial tension case will be presented in a separate paper [5].

Fig. 2 Debonding initiation of FE model with two layers of FRP

Fig. 3 Advanced debonding propagation of FE model with ten layers of FRP

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 FRPRCS-9 Sydney, Australia Monday 13 – Wednesday 15 July 2009

4 RECOMMENDED CODE CHANGES

A guide for the design of externally bonded FRP systems for reinforced concrete structures in the
United States is published by ACI Committee 440 [2]. In regards to strengthening in "pure axial
tension" the guide states that the "contribution of the FRP system is directly related to its strain level
and is calculated using Hooke's Law", the level of tension is limited by the "design tensile strength of
the FRP" and the "ability to transfer stresses into the substrate through bond". The equations for shear
strengthening are also mentioned as a way to determine the "effective strain" in the FRP, but the
equations are not applicable for the design of FRP collectors. The effect of thickness on bond is not
mentioned in this section.
Since the state of stress on the FRP collector is similar to the flexural strengthening case, the
thickness of the FRP is expected to have an inverse relationship with strength. From the results of the
FE model described above it is recommended that until better equations are developed, the design of
FRP systems to resist pure axial tension should use the bond equation recommended by ACI
Committee 440 to approximate the design tensile strain, εfd [2]:
f c'
 fd  0.41  0.9 fu (1)
nE f t f

where εfu is the design rupture strain, f'c is the compressive strength of the concrete, and nEftf is the
stiffness of the FRP system.

REFERENCES

[1] ASCE 41, Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings, American Society of Civil Engineers,
2007
[2] ACI Committee 440, Guide for the Design and Construction of Externally Bonded FRP
Systems for Strengthening Concrete Structures, American Concrete Institute, ACI 440.2R-08,
2008.
[3] Adina R & D, Adina System 8.5 Theory and Modelling Guide, Watertown, MA, 2008.
[4] Lu, XZ, Teng, JG, Ye, LP, Jiang, JJ. "Bond-slip models for FRP sheets/plates bonded to
concrete." Engineering Structures, Vol 27, 2005, pp. 920-937.
[5] Rosenboom, OA, Kehoe, BE, "Finite element modelling of FRP Seismic Collectors for RC
Diaphragms", in preparation.

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