Author(s)

B. Uy, C.S. Aw & T. Yang

Abstract

External steel plate bonding by both gluing and bolting has been applied to the retro fitting of reinforced concrete slabs and beams extensively through out the last decade. More recently the benefits of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) plates have also been applied to similar applications due to their higher strength to weight ratio and the improved durability characteristics, which are important in exposed environments. In the study of steel plate bonding, consideration of the effects of local and post-local buckling has been addressed, in cases where the steel plate extends into the compressive zones of the member. To enable the use of side plating using CFRP plates one must consider the local and post-local buckling behaviour of these plates, which have completely different material characteristics to steel. Firstly the plates are anisotropic and they also exhibit elastic brittle behaviour. This paper will discuss the augmentation of an existing elastic finite strip method (FSM).The research will then allow design rules to be developed for applying CFRP plates to existing concrete structures. This paper also considers the local buckling behaviour of CFRP plates restrained by concrete using idealised support conditions using the finite element method (FEM). Furthermore, the effects of discrete supports are also considered which are used to model the effects of bolting in plate-bonded structures.

Keywords