Effect of layer variations on CFRP strengthened steel circular hollow members under bending: Numerical studies

The number of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) layer and their orientation generally affect the strength and stiffness of the steel circular hollow section (CHS) members primarily when they are subjected to bending. In this study, numerical investigation is carried out to find the effect of number and orientation of CFRP composites layer on strength and stiffness of CHS members under bending. In numerical investigation, cohesive element is adopted to model interface element (adhesive) and an 8-node quadrilateral in-plane general-purpose continuum shell is used to model CFRP elements. The validity of the FE models is ascertained by comparing the ultimate load, stiffness and failure mode from experimental results. The results of FE analyses show that the strength and stiffness increase with the increase of number of CFRP layer. The three layer configured CFRP strengthened steel CHS beams are found cost effective with respect to strength increment than four layer configured CFRP strengthened steel CHS beam