Composite Structures 78 (2007) 264270 www.elsevier.

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Torsional strengthening of reinforced concrete box beams using carbon ber reinforced polymer
Meng Jing
b

a,*

, Werasak Raongjant b, Zhongxian Li

a School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin University, PR China Institute of Concrete Construction, University of Hannover, Germany

Available online 9 December 2005

Abstract This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the response of reinforced concrete box beam under combined actions of bending moment, shear and cyclic torque, strengthened with externally bonded carbon ber reinforced polymer sheets (CFS). Three strengthened box beams and one reference box beam were tested. The main parameters of this experiment were the amount of CFS and the wrapping schemes. The failure shapes, torsional capacities, deformation capacities, rigidity attenuations and hysteresis behaviours of specimens were studied in detail. The experimental results indicated that the contribution of externally bonded CFS to the aseismic capacity of box beam is signicant. Based on the text results and analysis, restoring force model of CFS strengthened R.C. box beam under combined actions of bending moment, shear and cyclic torque was established. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Strengthening; Cyclic torque; Box beam; Carbon ber sheets; CFS; Torsional capacity; Restoring force model

1. Introduction In current practice, torsional strengthening of concrete members is achieved by one of the following methods [1]: (1) increasing the member cross-sectional area combined with adding of transverse reinforcement, (2) using externally bonded steel plates and pressure grouting the gap between plate and concrete element, and (3) applying an axial load to the member by post-tensioning. Although these methods will continue to be used in many more instances, ber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites provide another option for strengthening. Strengthening structural elements using FRP enable the designer to selectively increase their ductility, exure, and shear capacity in response to the increasing seismic and service load demand. Shear strengthening or exural strengthening of reinforced concrete beams using com-

Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 511 7623357. E-mail address: jingmeng72@hotmail.com (M. Jing).

posite materials were studied by several researchers and investigators at several institutions. However, studying the torsional strengthening of structural elements using FRP has not received much attention [2,3]. The reasons for the lack of research in the area include the specialized nature of the problem and the diculties in conducting realistic tests and representative analyses. It is also a reason that few practical structures need to be strengthened to increase the torsional capacity under cyclic torque. In designs of great bridge structures, the transversal torsional deection and bending torsional deformation of bridge girder due to transversal seismic action or lateral wind force maybe have great inuence [4]. For this reason, many researchers have paid more attentions on the studies of torsional capacity, bending torque coupling eect and loss of stability due to lateral inclination [5,6]. The present project is rather unique in addressing torsional retrot of reinforced concrete (RC) box beams under bending, shear and cyclic torque using carbon ber reinforced polymer sheets (CFS). Three CFS strengthened

0263-8223/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2005.10.017

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860

box beams and one unstrengthened box beam were tested. The results were compared and addressed the following factors: The amount and ber orientation of the CFS composites.

p2, giving a torque capacity

lever arm

p1

2. Experimental program 2.1. Test specimens and test setup This experimental program consisted of four identical RC single cell rectangular box beams with a box-shape cross section of 600 mm 400 mm with 50 mm wall thickness (as shown in Fig. 1). The total span of the beam was 3400 mm long. All the four specimens were reinforced with 320 mm diameter longitudinal bars in bottom wall and 312 mm diameter longitudinal bars in top wall (fy = 310 N/mm2). The hoops of 6.5 mm diameter were spaced 100 mm apart on center throughout the test region of beam length (fyv = 210 N/mm2). Nine hundred millimeter long of the beam, from concentrated loading point to the end of the beam, were reinforced with hoops of 6.5 mm diameter at space of 50 mm on center, which assure that this part does not crack at rst. The cube compressive strength of concrete was 40 N/ mm2. The homogeneous unilateralism carbon ber reinforced polymer (CFS) was used with the following material properties: The ply thickness is 0.111 mm, modulus of elasticity is 233 GPa and ultimate tensile strength is 4100 MPa. The control and strengthened beams were tested on a self-design torsional test setup. Cyclic torque moment was applied through a lever arm at one end of specimen by a MTS hydraulic actuator. The specimen was also loaded at the point of 3/4 span lengths by a jack. This concentrate vertical force results in the bending moment and
2400 800

Fig. 2. Schematic of test setup.

shear force on the beam. The schematic of test setup was shown in Fig. 2. 2.2. Strengthening schemes As shown in Fig. 3, the U form, 100 mm wide carbon ber strips wrapped in transverse direction was spaced 200 mm on center apart, with 150 mm anchorage length on the top surface. The two carbon ber strips pasted in longitudinal direction on bottom surface were 150 mm wide and spaced 250 mm on center apart. The retrot schemes of four specimens are shown in Table 1. 2.3. Loading scheme This quasi-static test followed load-deformation mixed control loading scheme. Load control was followed before cracking. At each load step torque was applied one cycle in positive and negative direction with the constant torque bending ration (T/M = 0.375). After concrete cracked, deformation control was followed and stage loads were applied according to the integral multiple of crack twist angle (hcr) until specimen yielding, usually three cycles. After yielding of box beam, stage loads were applied

Fig. 1. The dimension and reinforcements displacement of specimens.

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Retrofit on bottom surface

Retrofit in transverse direction

Fig. 3. Retrot scheme of specimen.

Table 1 Retrot schemes of specimens Specimen B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8 Retrot scheme Reference specimen Wrapped in transverse direction only Wrapped in both transverse and longitudinal direction Wrapped in both transverse and longitudinal direction Layers of CFRP 0 1 Transverse 1 Longitudinal 1 Transverse 2 Longitudinal 1 Torque bending ratio 0.375 0.375 0.375 0.375

according to the integral multiple of yielding twist angle (hY), usually three cycles, until the specimen lost its capacity to carry more load in one loading direction. Specimen failure was determined as this point. 3. Test result 3.1. Test process The failure patterns of all the four specimens were bending torsional failure. With the increase of torque moment and vertical load on the 3/4 point of the beam, vertical crack due to tensile stress occurred at rst at the bottom on shear torque added side of a certain cycle. When torque moment was applied in another direction, vertical crack appeared at the bottom on shear torque added side of this moment. Before specimen yielding, the concrete cracks were narrow and developed to diagonal direction due to shear forces. They could be closed when unloading. The cracks in positive direction could not be observed when torque moment applied in negative direction. After specimen yielding concrete cracks developed quickly and could not be closed completely when unloading. Crossed netlike cracks formed on the beam surfaces. With the increase of times of cycle, diagonal cracks on the two adjacent sides opened throughout the surfaces. At the failure point obvious bending deformation and extensive crossed netlike cracks at 3550

along the length of the beam can be observed and the concrete at the shear torque counteract side of a certain cycle were crushed (as shown in Fig. 4). By comparing the crack developments of strengthened specimens (B-6, B-7, B-8) with that of the unstrengthened specimen (B5), it can be obtained that cracks of strengthened beams distribute more evenly with smaller width and develop more slowly. This is because that cracks were not allowed to widen due to the restraint provided by the ber. 3.2. Torsional capacity and deformation capacity The crack torque, crack twist angle, yield torque, yield twist angle, ultimate torque, ultimate twist angle and ductility factor for all the tested beams are listed in Table 2. CFS strengthening has few eects on the crack torque, yield torque and torsional rigidity before concrete cracking. However, it is more eective in improving the torsional strength. Applying one layer U-shape transversal wrapped CFS strips (B-6) resulted in 31.22% increase of ultimate torque (It is the even value of the increase of positive and negative torque moment). Wrapping one layer U-shape transversal CFS strips and one layer longitudinal CFS strips on bottom surface of box beam (B-7) improved the torsional moment capacity by up to 32.5%. Strengthened with two layer U-shape transversal CFS strips and one layer longitudinal CFS strips on bottom surface of box

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Fig. 4. The failure patterns of four specimens under cyclic torque.

Table 2 The test results of torque, twist angle and ductility factor Specimen B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8 Specimen B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8 Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Negative Retrot scheme No Transversal 1 Transversal 1, Longitudinal, 1 Transversal 2, Longitudinal 1 Ultimate torque (kNm) 62.36 71.05 82.21 71.52 86.82 89.40 103.99 93.18 Crack torque (kNm) 12.01 14.31 14.0 14.95 Ultimate twist angle (deg/m) 1.23 1.23 1.48 1.48 1.532 1.532 1.92 1.92 Crack twist angle (deg/m) 0.084 0.079 0.076 0.074 Ultimate bending moment (kNm) 141.3 141.3 160.5 160.5 190.68 190.68 204.2 204.2 Yielding torque (kNm) 42.14 43.89 52.27 51.69 Ultimate torque bending ratio 0.441 0.502 0.512 0.446 0.455 0.468 0.509 0.456 Yielding twist angle (deg/m) 0.308 0.494 0.51 0.64 Ductility factor 4.0 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 Increase of the ultimate torque (%) 31.83 0.66 39.22 25.0 66.76 31.15

beam (B-8) improved the torsional moment capacity by up to 48.57%. It can be also concluded in Table 2 that CFS strengthening can obviously improve the deformation capacities of box beams. Compared with the reference beam B-5, the ultimate twist angle of specimen B-6 is improved by 20.3%. That of B-7 is improved by 24.6% and that of B-8 is improved by 56.1%. It can be concluded that deformation capacity is improved with the amount of CFS and transversal CFS strips have greater retrot eect than longitudinal CFS on bottom surface. It must be noticed that

ductility factor of strengthened beam is less than unstrengthened beam (Ductility factor is dened as the ratio of ultimate twist angle to yielding twist angle of one specimen). However, the ductility factors of strengthened beams are still 3.0, which still satisfy with the requirements of aseismic code [7]. 3.3. Hysteresis behaviors Fig. 5 shows the experimental results of four specimens in terms of the torque versus twist angle hysteresis curves

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Fig. 5. The hysteresis loops of specimens.

(Th relationship curves). Four specimens exhibited the same rule under combined bending, shear and cyclic torque actions. Before concrete cracking, box beam exhibited elastic properties with high torsional rigidity. With the increase of loading, hysteresis loop formed. After concrete cracking, especially after beam yielding, torsional rigidity reduced quickly and rotation angle increased obviously. The slope of curve in positive loading period was relatively small at rst and then had a little improvement. This is because that during the unloading and reverse loading periods the opened cracks were closed partly which make it possible that concrete between cracks can touch with each other and transfer the forces. The hysteresis curves of all the four specimens experienced a signicant pinching caused by the shear stresses. The hysteresis loops of strengthened beams exhibited a more rounded shape than the hysteresis loop of B-5, which indicates that CFS strengthening can improve the energy dissipation capacity of beam. At the same deformation stage, the corresponding torque moment in the

second and third cycles were less than the torque in the rst cycle, which is named strength deterioration. This is due to the accumulated damage at the yielding district of the beam. For the box beams presented here, the accumulated damage are mainly caused by diagonal cracks development, concrete protective coating spalling in cracks and cohesion failure. 3.4. Skeleton curve The skeleton curve is an envelopes developed from the torque versus twist angle hysteresis curve by joining together the peak value point of every cycle in the same loading direction. Fig. 6 shows the skeleton curves of four specimens. Before beam yielding, the skeleton curves of strengthened beams (B-6, B-7, B-8) exhibited nearly the same with the skeleton curve of referenced beam (B-5). After beam yielding, the corresponding torsional rigidities and torsional strengths of strengthened beams were obviously

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120 80 Torque, T (KNm) 40 0 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 -4 -80

B-7 B-8

0.5

1
B-5

1.5

2
B-6

-120 Twist angle, (deg/m)

Fig. 6. Skeleton curves of specimens.

tive coating spalling due to appearance and development of cracks, the reducing of cross section due to the opened cracks, yielding and plastic behaviour of reinforcement and the slide between concrete and reinforcements. Applying CFS to strengthen box beam resulted in relatively slower rigidity attenuation. This proved that CFS strips wrapped on the beam can resist the applied load just as reinforcements and provide connement to cracks development. The use of transversal U-shape CFS strips may provide the more eective wrapping scheme to decrease the torsional rigidity attenuation than the use of longitudinal CFS strips on bottom surface. 4. Restoring force model Based on the experimental results and the skeleton curves of four specimens, a simplied restoring force model, degenerated trilinear model, was put forward here to simulate the hysteresis behaviour of CFS strengthened box beams under combined bending, shear and cyclic torque. (1) Skeleton lineskeleton line can be dened as a trilinear curve with four points, which are the origin point, the concrete cracking point (Tcr, hcr), the yielding point (TY, hY) and the ultimate point (Tu, hu). (2) Unloading linethe unloading line can be dened as a diagonal line with the slop of Gy. Gy is decided by the torque moment or twist angle at the begin point of unloading. Before beam yielding, the unloading torsional rigidity is similar to the initial loading rigidity. After beam yielding, the unloading torsional rigidity reduced. (3) Reversed loading linethe unloading line in one direction intersects with the slide axis at one point with residual deformation and then develops along the line between this point and the point of torque T* = cTY in the skeleton line in another direction. Then the reversed loading line will join together with the peak point of last cycle and then go along with the skeleton line in this direction. (TY is the yielding torque; c is the pinching eect factor, taken as 0.250.5, according to the experimental results. The bigger value of c means the more amount of CFS, the more rounded hysteresis loop of strengthened box beam and the improved energy dissipation capacity.). (4) Slide and pinching phenomenain this restoring force model only the pinching eect after member yielding is considered. (shown in Fig. 8). The slide axis is a diagonal line through the original point with the slop of kG1, in which G1 is the torsional rigidity before concrete cracking and k is the slope factor denoting the extent of pinching phenomena. Based on the test results, k can be taken as 0.075. (5) The torsional rigidity of each stage in the restoring force model (shown in Fig. 9)

improved. The ultimate twist angles of them were lager than that of unstrengthened beam. These results proved that the retrot material begin to work only after sucient cracking occurred and beam yielding. Comparing the skeleton curves of B-6, B-7 and B-8, it can be seen that transversal U-shape CFS strips strengthen more eectively than the longitudinal CFS strips on bottom surface. 3.5. Rigidity attenuation Dividing the summation of absolute values of positive and negative peak torque in each cycle by the summation of corresponding absolute values of positive and negative twist angle, the result can be dened as the torsional rigidity in each cycle (Gi, i is the number of one loading cycle). G0 denote the initial torsional rigidity of specimen. The Gi/ G0 versus twist angle curves of four specimens in this test are shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the rigidity attenuation of each beam became slower with the increase of twist angle. The torsional rigidity reduced rapidly along with the concrete cracking and beam yielding and slowly prior to complete failure. The rigidity attenuation was mainly induced by the plastic behaviors of box beam after its yielding and the accumulated damage, which includes concrete protec-

1.2 1 0.8
B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8

Gi /Go

0.6 0.4 0.2 0

0.5

1.5

2.5

Twist angle (deg/m)

Fig. 7. The rigidity attenuation of four specimens.

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T
skeleton line

M. Jing et al. / Composite Structures 78 (2007) 264270

after beam yielding; n is a experience factor, taken as 0.3 based on this test results. 5. Conclusions

Ty

axis slide G1

Ty
skeleton line

Fig. 8. Pinching eect considered in restoring force model.

T(KN.m)
Tu B Gy2 A C

Ty

Gy2
e slid

axis

Ty U Y

Tcr G1 O Tcr

Gy1

G1

In this study, the torsional behaviour, seismic behaviour and mode of failure of reinforced concrete box beam strengthened with carbon ber reinforced sheets (CFS) under combined bending, shear and cyclic torque were investigated. The test results indicated that the externally bonded CFS can be used to enhance the torsional capacity and deformation capacity of the beams. The strengthening eect is more obvious with the more layers of transversal U-shape wrapped CFS strips. The test results also indicated that the CFS strengthening reduce the ductility of the beams. So Special attention should be paid on the amount of CFS to avoid brittle failure. The test results were used to explore the restoring force model of CFS strengthened box beam under combined actions. This model provides a good reference to the study of seismic behaviors and wind vibration behaviors of CFS strengthened box beam under cyclic torque moment. Acknowledgements The writers would like to acknowledge the supervising of Prof. Juergen Gruenberg in University of Hannover. The writes are also grateful the support of German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). References

(deg/m)
Y Ty U

Ty

Tu

Fig. 9. Restoring force model of CFS strengthened box beam.

Before the concrete cracking OA :

G1 T cr =hcr 1 T Y T cr Concrete cracking to beam yielding AB : G2 hY hcr 2 Tu TY Beam yielding to ultimate torque AC : G3 hu hY 3 Unloading rigidity :  Before beam yielding T 6 T Y ; Gy1 G1 a After beam yielding
n

T Y 0 T 6 T u ; Gy2 aG1 b 4

in which, a hYi , where, hi is the twist angle correspondh ing to the peak point of the torque moment at the i cycle

[1] Salom PR. Spandrel beams retrot with carbon ber polymer and subjected to torsion. MSc thesis, Charlotte, NC: Civil Engineering Department, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; 2001. [2] Panchacharam S, Belarbi A. Torsional behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with FRP composites. First FIB Congress, Japan; 2002. [3] Pedro R. Salom, Janos Gergely, David T. Young. Torsional strengthening of spandrel beams with ber-reinforced polymer laminates. Journal of composites for construction, ASCE/ March/April, 2004. p. 15762. [4] Yokoyama K, Kanazaki T, Yasuda M. Flutter characteristics of super long-span suspension bridge. The 24th joint metting on wind and seismic eect. Gaitherburg, MD USA; 1992. p. 1324. [5] Yao THsu, Chung CFu. Seismic eect on highway bridges in ChiChi earthquake. J. Perform. Constructed Facil 2004;18(1):4753. [6] Hsu HL, Liang LL. Eect of torsion on seismic performance of composite members. Seventh US national conference on earthquake engineering (7NCEE): Theme: Urban earthquake risk (electronic resource); 2002. p. 110. [7] Structural aseismic design code GBJ 11-89[S]. China structural science academe. Beijing: China Structural Industry Press; 1989.