Exploring new NSM reinforcements for the flexural strengthening of RC beams: Experimental and numerical research

Carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymer (CFRP) composite materials applied according to near-surface-mounted (NSM) technique constitute an effective technique for the flexural and shear strengthening of reinforced-concrete (RC) structures. However, the NSM CFRP reinforcement ratio is limited by the thickness of concrete cover of the longitudinal tensile steel bars, and the minimum distance between consecutive CFRPs, below which premature fracture of surrounding concrete occurs due to group effect. Hence, the current study aims to experimentally and numerically evaluate the strengthening potentialities of a novel NSM system (with high CFRP ratio capability) for the flexural strengthening of RC beams. This new system combines externally-bonded-reinforcement (EBR) and NSM techniques in the same application using T-shaped CFRP profiles. The obtained experimental results of the RC beams strengthened with CFRP profiles are presented and discussed with the aim of evaluating the influence of CFRP profile reinforcement ratio on the strengthening efficiency of this technique. A developed 3D finite-element (FE) approach is used to simulate the experimental tests. After demonstrating its good predictive performance, a series of parametric studies is performed to assess the influence of the main material properties, and ratio of bond area to cross sectional area of the CFRP profiles on the efficiency of the proposed system.