Study on Shear Strengthening of RC Continuous Beams with Different CFRP Wrapping Schemes

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation for enhancing the shear capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) continuous beams using different CFRP wrapping schemes. A total of five concrete beams were tested and various sheet configurations and layouts were studied to determine their effects on ultimate shear strength and shear capacity of the beams. One beam was kept as control beams, while other beams were strengthened with externally bonded CFRP strips with four or three sides bonding and one or two layers of CFRP strips. From the test results, it was found that all schemes were found to be effective in enhancing the shear strength of RC beams. It was observed that the strength increases with the number of sheet layers and four sides wrap provided the most effective strengthening for RC continuous beam. Beam strengthened using this scheme showed 54% increase in shear capacity as compared to the control beam. Two prediction models available in literature were used for computing the contribution of CFRP strips and compared with the experimental results.