Energy-Based Modeling Approach for Debonding of FRP Plate from Concrete Substrate

For concrete beams and slabs strengthened with bonded fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) plates, plate debonding from the concrete substrate is a common failure mode. In this paper, the debonding process is modeled as the propagation of a crack along the concrete/adhesive interface, with frictional shear stress acting behind the crack tip. Crack propagation is taken to occur when the net energy release of the system equals the interfacial fracture energy. The analysis is first performed for the special case with constant shear stress along the debonded interface, and then for the general case with slip softening in the debonded zone. From the results, a direct correspondence between energy-based and strength-based analyses can be established for arbitrary softening behavior along the interface. Specifically, through the proper definition of an effective interfacial shear strength, the conventional strength-based approach can be employed to give the same results as the much more complicated energy-based analysis. Also, based on the relation between the effective shear strength and other material parameters, it is possible to explain the very high interfacial shear stresses observed in experimental measurements. As an application example, distribution of plate stress and interfacial shear stress for the linear softening case is derived. The model results are found to be in good agreement with experimental measurements, showing that the simple linear softening model can describe the debonding process in real material systems.