Partially-Repaired Reinforced Concrete Beams with Exposed Reinforcement

Deteriorated reinforced concrete highway bridge girders are regularly repaired by replacing existing concrete with new concrete, temporarily exposing the reinforcement. At this stage the capacity of the girder is uncertain because, while plane sections remain plane at each cross section, the requirement of compatible strains in the reinforcement and the adjacent concrete no longer holds.

This paper presents an experimental study of five 4-metre concrete T-section specimens with exposed reinforcement loaded with a simulated uniformly distributed load and a concurrent single- point load to realistically simulate the loading applied to a typical girder. These results are used to validate an analytical approach developed to assist practicing engineers in checking the safety of girders with exposed reinforcement during rehabilitation.