Study on Flexural Behaviour of RC Beams Strengthened with BFRP Laminates

Strengthening of concrete elements by externally bonded Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) sheets is becoming very popular worldwide during the past decade. Since it results in better economic consideration and immediate shelter to problems rather than replacement of whole existing structure. Many researchers have been conducted for enhancing the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beam strengthened with FRP reinforcement under monotonic static loads. However, any structure will be subjected to cyclic load that arise due to the dynamic action of seismic force, wheel loads, impact load etc., in such cases, retrofitting should be effective under cyclic flexural actions. Studies under cyclic load actions are very limited and this paper focuses on the research gap of BFRP laminated beam. In this paper, an experimental investigation is carried out to study the behavior of simply supported reinforced concrete beam under cyclic load. The beams are externally strengthened by bonding of Basalt Fiber Reinforced Polymer (BFRP) sheets. The study consists of two beams, a controlled beam and a beam strengthened with three layers of BFRP sheets.