Evaluation of BFRP RC beams under flexure

摘要

This paper aims to study the flexural behavior of concrete beams reinforced with the newly revealed BFRP bars. A four-point loading setup was utilized to conduct flexure tests on three concrete beams reinforced longitudinally with 2 #10, 2 #12, and 3 #16 BFRP bars. The concrete used to cast the beams had a compressive strength of 30 MPa, and the beams were over-reinforced in design to ensure concrete compression failure before FRP bar rupture. The effect of the BFRP reinforcement ratio on the flexure response of BFRP RC beams were scrutinized in terms of the moment versus mid-span deflection response, the load at first concrete crack (cracking moment), stiffness, ultimate moment capacity, ductility and failure modes. The test results showed that the beam with the highest reinforcement ratio had the highest capacity, while the beams with the lowest reinforcement ratio had the highest mid-span deflection. Also, the non-linear increasing trend of the ultimate moment capacity with reinforcement ratio matched the ACI 440 equation. These test results will be utilized as a control for a long-term durability study on the performance of BFRP bars exposed to harsh environments.