Fundamental mechanisms of bonding of glass fiber reinforced polymer reinforcement to concrete

Fundamental mechanisms of bonding between glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bar and concrete are presented. Contributions from chemical bonding, bearing resistance, and frictional resistance to bond were delineated by measuring the following: the load corresponding to complete debonding of the bar, the load corresponding to onset of sliding and pullout of the bar along the entire embedment length, and the frictional load corresponding to frictional resistance to sliding. Research findings indicate that while chemical bonding was the main contributor to the interfacial bond strength, the other two mechanisms contributed to the pullout strength of the bar. Correlation between the bar’s surface geometry and the contributions from the three mechanisms are discussed.