Flexural failure modes of steel plate-strengthened reinforced concrete elements

Failure of plate strengthened flexural reinforced concrete (RC) member can be crushing of the concrete at the compression face or premature debonding of the plate from the concrete element at the tension face. Debonding can be classified into three groups; namely, intermediate crack debonding (ICD), delamination and plate-end debonding (PED). Intermediate crack debonding is caused by flexural or flexural-shear stress, and plate-end debonding and delamination are caused by interfacial stress. This paper reviews the failure modes of flexural strengthened RC elements in bending, using epoxy-bonded steel plates. It also attempts to establish the width-to-thickness ratios of plates that can achieve the full flexural strengths of the strengthened element and promote a ductile failure