Effect of temperature on the bond behaviour of GFRP bars in concrete

Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars have been employed as internal reinforcement for concrete members when corrosion of the commonly used steel bars is expected to be an issue. While a good bond is anticipated between GFRP bars and concrete at ambient temperature, the bond performance at high temperature is expected to be reduced due to the physical and mechanical changes that the matrix undergoes at temperatures approaching the glass transition temperature (Tg). Up to date this phenomenon has only been marginally investigated and most of the available bond tests are performed at ambient temperatures after cooling of the heated specimens. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the bond behaviour of GFRP bars in concrete and exposed to temperature levels ranging from ∼20 °C to 300 °C. The test specimens, consisting of an indented GFRP bar embedded in a cylindrical concrete block, were heated in an electric furnace. The pull-out tests were carried out within the furnace only after the temperature level, measured with thermocouples at the interface of GFRP and concrete, stabilized to the desired value. The paper discusses the effect of temperature on bond behaviour in terms of bond strength, bond stress-slip relationships and failure modes. A contactless technique measuring the free-end slip during pull-out tests at high temperatures was developed and its effectiveness demonstrated. Finally, the experimental results were used to calibrate the parameters of the two most widely used analytical models: mBPE and CMR