A comparison between intact and damaged compressive concrete specimens retrofitted by CFRP composites

In this work, the effect of CFRP retrofit on the near failure stress-strain behavior of both intact and also damaged concrete specimens have been assessed during an experimental test program. This paper presents the laboratory results of compression tests. The experimental test results obtained here indicated that for intact concrete specimens, there would be approximately 38% increase in ultimate compressive strength. The laboratory test results also showed that for the damaged concrete specimens tested here, there might be approximately 34% increase in ultimate compressive strength. The test results also showed that the initial strength of the retrofitted concrete specimens by CFRP composites using Sika Dur Epoxy adhesives may be considerably lower than the un-retrofitted intact specimens partly due to the slippage of the bonding CFRP sheets as observed during the tests. It is found that the near failure behavior of the damaged specimens have been significantly improved using CFRP retrofit of such specimens.