Experimetal and analytical study on torsional behavior of RC flanged beams strengthened with glass FRP

Environmental degradation, increased service loads, reduced capacity due to aging, degradation owing to poor construction materials and workmanships and conditional need for seismic retrofitting have demanded the necessity for repair and rehabilitation of existing structures. Fibre reinforced polymers has been used successfully in many such applications for reasons like low weight, high strength and durability. Many previous research works on torsional strengthening were focused on solid rectangular RC beams with different strip layouts and different types of fibres. Various analytical models were developed to predict torsional behavior of strengthened rectangular beams and successfully used for validation of the experimental works. But literature on torsional strengthening of RC T- beam is limited. In the present work experimental study was conducted in order to have a better understanding the behavior of torsional strengthening of solid RC flanged T-beams. An RC T-beam is analyzed and designed for torsion like an RC rectangular beam; the effect of concrete on flange is neglected by codes. In the present study effect of flange part in resisting torsion is studied by changing flange width of controlled beams. The other parameters studied are strengthening configurations and fiber orientations. The objective of present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of epoxy-bonded GFRP fabrics as external transverse reinforced to reinforced concrete beams with flanged cross sections (T-beam) subjected to torsion. Torsional results from strengthened beams are compared with the experimental result of the control beams without FRP application. The study shows remarkable improvement in torsional behavior of all the GFRP strengthen beams. The experimentally obtained results are validated with analytical model presented by A.Deifalla and A. Ghobarah and found in good agreement