“NON-LINEAR ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM STRENGTHENED WITH FIBRE REINFORCED POLYMER (FRP) SHEET”

Abstract

The maintenance, rehabilitation and upgrading of structural members, is one of the most important (crucial) problems in civil engineering applications. A structure is designed for a specific period and depending on the nature of the structure, its design life varies. For domestic building, this design life could be twenty-five years, whereas for a public building it could be fifty years. Deterioration in concrete structures is a major challenge faced by the infrastructure and bridge industries worldwide. The deterioration can be mainly due to environmental effects. In these effects, corrosion of steel, gradual loss of strength with aging, repeated high intensity loading, variation in temperature, freeze and thaw   cycles and contact with chemical & saline water. Since replacement of such deficient elements of structures will be costly, strengthening has become the acceptable way of improving their load carrying capacity and extending their service life. One of the challenges in strengthening of concrete structures is selection of a strengthening method that will enhance the strength and serviceability of the structure.