Fatigue behavior of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer-repaired corroded reinforced concrete beams

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an experimental study on the performance of corroded reinforced concrete (RC) beams repaired with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates that were subsequently tested in fatigue. In the corroded specimens, the tensile reinforcing bars became more susceptible to fatigue failure than the bars in the noncorroded control beams. The CFRP strengthening prolonged the fatigue life by reducing the stress levels of the tensile reinforcement. The dominant failure of the strengthened beams was by fracture of one or more of the tensile reinforcing bars, followed by debonding of the CFRP plate. While the CFRP delayed the fatigue failure, it did not restore the cyclic resistance of the beams to that of the control specimens. The test beams were analyzed for their fatigue life using current design methods with appropriate allowance for the effects of corrosion of the steel reinforcement.