Numericall Study on Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Coupling Beams Strengthened with FRP Bar and Sheets

Retrofitting coupling beams in shear walls to improve their seismic performance can be a viable option. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are widely used in strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) structures. This paper aims to investigate and compare the result of shear strengthening of reinforced concrete coupling beams by means of CFRP & GFRP sheets, with externally bonded reinforcement (EBR) method and GFRP rods, with near surface mounted (NSM) method, using ABACUS software. Hence, numerical studies were conducted to analyze these methods. The results show that using FRP composites can increase the shear strength and ductility of strengthened coupling beam, effectively. In EBR method, carbon and glass fiber sheets are more effective to increase the strength and ductility, respectively. The NSM method increased the shear strength by 44% and also the ductility by 70%.