Plate bonding technology is used to strengthen or to repair beams and girders in reinforcedconcrete building or bridge structures. The bonding between steel plate and concrete can be provided byhigh quality adhesives or by mechanical devices. This paper introduces a novel form of beams withmechanically bonded steel plate as tension reinforcement. The mechanical devices connecting sheetingand concrete are innovative and can be of various types. Comprehensive investigation is now underprogress to validate the performance of such beams. Heavily instrumented tests provided detailedinformation on load-deflection response, failure modes and strain characteristics of such beams. Failure ofsuch beams was found to depend on the mode of interface connection, geometric dimensions of beams,spacing of shear reinforcement and thickness of steel plate. Depending on the relative influence of suchparameters, the beams failed either by tearing of steel plate or by interface failure. Strength of suchbeams is compared with those obtained from Code based design approach and extensive finite elementanalysis. The practical application of such construction in actual buildings and bridges is also described.
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