Precast, prestressed hollow core (PHC) slabs are among the most common load bearing concrete elements in the world. They are widely used in floors and roofs of office, residential, commercial and industrial buildings. As no shear reinforcement can be provided due to fabrication restraint, the concrete shear strength is the only source of PHC slab shear capacity. However, in some design situations, typically when large concentrated or line loads are present, shear capacity of PHC slabs could be exceeded. Therefore, developing an efficient technique to strengthen shear capacity of PHC slabs is essential. The objective of this research project is to explore an innovative application of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite sheets to strengthening web-shear capacity of PHC slabs by installing the sheets along the internal perimeter of the slab voids. As the first phase of exploring the feasibility and effectiveness of this new technique, experimental and finite element study has been carried out on full scale single web hollow core slabs with carbon FRP sheets bonded on the full perimeter of voids on both sides of the specimen. Several parameters including the width and number of FRP sheets have been investigated. Test results showed the effectiveness of this novel shear strengthening technique.
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