Precast, prestressed hollow core (PHC) slabs are widely used in civil construction, typically as floor or roof in office and residential buildings as well as parking structures. Since the manufacturing process does not allow the installation of shear stirrups, shear resistance of PHC slabs relies solely on the shear strength of concrete itself. In some cases, the slab could possibly be subjected to concentrated load or line load caused by moving vehicles and cargos. Thus, shear failure is likely to occur at the region close to supports. Traditional remedies include choosing thicker slabs and filling the voids of PHC slabs, which would inevitably increase self-weight and cost and thus lose the advantages of PHC slabs. Therefore, it is imperative to develop a new shear strengthening strategy for PHC slabs which would not only effectively improve its shear capacity but also retain the original merits. The objective of the current research is to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of applying Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite sheets to shear strengthening of PHC slabs. An experimental study has been conducted to investigate the behaviour of PHC slabs when externally bonded by Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite sheets along the perimeter of slab voids. Preliminary results in this paper show that the proposed shear strengthening technique can effectively improve the shear performance of full-width PHC slabs and greatly enhance its shear capacity.
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