The effect of anisotropy of elastic properties of GFRP reinforcement on strength of compressed concrete structural elements

Introduction. Despite the growing interest to the use of GFRP reinforcement in various concrete structures, its use in the concrete compressed zone is not investigated sufficiently. The use of GFRP reinforcement in compressed concrete elements is limited by a combination of low value of its modulus of elasticity and small ultimate deformation of concrete during compression. A number of researchers suggest solving this problem by means of increase the ultimate concrete deformation due to lateral reinforcement. However, unlike steel reinforcement, the elastic properties of composite reinforcement depend on the stress direction, which is due to the significant difference between the moduli of elasticity of the fibre glass and the binder. Consequently, the stress-deformation state of compressed concrete elements with longitudinal GFRP reinforcement and close-set lateral reinforcement will differ from the stress-deformation state of steel-reinforced concrete elements. Materials and methods. To clarify the effect of the anisotropy of fibre-glass reinforcement elastic properties on its work in the concrete compressed zone, a physical experiment and numerical simulation using the LIRA-SAPR software were carried out. Physical nonlinearity of materials was not taken into account in the model. Results. An assessment of the effect of anisotropy of elastic properties of fibre-glass reinforced plastic (GFRP) reinforcement on the strength of compressed concrete elements was accomplished for longitudinal reinforcement. The experiment showed that the location of the longitudinal GFRP reinforcement in the concrete compressed zone in the absence of lateral reinforcement led to a decrease in the average strength of the tested samples by 9.2 %, while the fracture nature of GFRP-reinforced samples differed from the fracture nature of control samples. As a result of the numerical simulation, it was revealed that the cause of the strength reduction is the anisotropy of the elastic properties of GFRP reinforcement, which affects the stress-deformation state of compressed concrete. Conclusions. The analysis of the results of experiment and numerical simulation showed that the reason for the decrease in strength is the low modulus of elasticity of GFRP when compressed in the lateral direction as compared with the similar characteristic of concrete. The degree of strength reduction will also depend on the relation between the moduli of elasticity of concrete and GFRP when compressed in the longitudinal direction.