Structural behaviour of CFRP reinforced concrete members under bending and shear loads

Reinforcement made of fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) for concrete members is becoming increasingly important in structural engineering. Compared to conventional ribbed steel reinforcement bars, FRP reinforcement can be different in terms of modulus of elasticity, tensile strength and bond behaviour. This article presents and evaluates experimental investigations on the structural behaviour of concrete members under bending and shear loads. Different types of reinforcement (CFRP textile fabrics, CFRP bars, steel bars), cross-sections (slabs, beams) and types of failure (flexure, shear) are investigated. For a direct comparison with conventionally reinforced members, reference tests with steel reinforcement and comparable mechanical reinforcement ratio are carried out. The material properties and the structural behaviour of the studied concrete members are presented. The load-bearing, cracking and deformation behaviour is precisely described and the applicability of existing engineering models is checked. Additionally, the contributions to shear capacity are analysed using the deformation measurement based on digital image correlation.