Flexural and shear strengthening of RC beams with composites materials: the influence of cutting steel stirrups to install CFRP strips

[Excerpt] Introduction: Experimental [1], numerical and analytical [2] research reveals that as larger is the height of the cross section of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strip, as more effective is the Near Surface Mounted (NSM) technique for flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. However, this height is, in general, limited to the concrete cover, since the application of strips of cross section height larger than the concrete cover requires that the bottom arm of the steel stirrups be cut [3]. This work aims to assess the influence, in terms of shear resistance, of cutting the bottom arm of steel stirrups to install NSM strips for the flexural strengthening of RC beams. In the present paper the experimental program is described, and the relevant obtained results are presented and discussed. [...