Structural Upgrade of Concrete Beams Using Advanced Hybrid Fibre Composites

This paper presents the structural behavior of reinforced concrete beams with surface mounted GFRP and hybrid FRP laminates under static loading condition. A total of seven beams were cast and tested under four-point bending. One beam without FRP served as the control beam, two beams were strengthened using glass fibre reinforced polymer laminates (GFRP) and four beams were strengthened using hybrid FRP (carbon glass) laminates in flexure. From the experimental study, it was observed that strengthening of RC beams with hybrid FRP laminates resulted in increased load carrying capacity, reduced deformations, enhanced ductility and energy absorption. The load carrying capacity of the test beams was predicted using ACI 440.2R-08 guidelines. The experimental and predicted results are in good agreement.