Flexural Ductility Behavior of Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Beams Using Steel and CFRP Plates

Reinforced concrete beams are commonly retrofitted using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) plates as the technique is both inexpensive and unobtrusive. However, tests have shown that CFRP plates tend to debond at low strains, which can severely limit the ductility. Structural strengthening of beams subjected to flexure can be achieved using different retrofitting materials. The mostly used other retrofitting materials are; high strength galvanized steel plates (HSGS plates) and normal strength steel plates (NSS plates). This paper reports the behavior of retrofitted beams with each of these three materials. The experimental results of this study suggest that (HSGS plates) can be used to increase the strength of reinforced concrete structures with little, if any, loss of ductility.