Bond and force transfer of FRP materials bonded to concrete using Sitecure system

Use of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) materials to strengthen existing structures has been investigated over the past two decades. Experimental and analytical programs have acknowledged the effectiveness of this retrofitting strategy to improve the behaviour of structures under seismic loads. However, debonding of FRP from the substrate in strengthened members has limited their application. Different methods have been proposed to achieve a sufficient bond between FRP materials and concrete members. In this article, the results of the single shear push-pull tests of FRP jointed prisms using an innovative technique, called SiteCure, will be discussed. In the SiteCure technique, vacuum consolidation and heat cure are employed to provide a superior bond, which is more durable against external loads. The bond behaviour, ultimate load capacity and failure mode of specimens retrofitted by traditional methods will be compared with those of SiteCured specimens