Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to study the effectiveness of using “External Plate Bonding” in flexural retrofitting
of reinforced concrete (RC) beam. A simply supported rectangular RC beam is considered for this study.
The steel plate and the CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) sheet are taken into consideration as
bonded plates for retrofitting of RC beam. General purpose finite element program (ANSYS 11.0) is used to
carry out non-linear analysis of uncracked, cracked and retrofitted RC beam. Based on the results obtained
from numerical investigation it is seen that cracking in RC beam reduces the load carrying capacity of the
beam. When retrofitting technique using steel or CFRP plate bonding externally is applied, stresses at the
crack tip reduce significantly. Therefore, external plate bonding could be effectively applied in retrofitting of
RC beam.
