Influence of CFRP Strengthening on the Behavior of Concavely-Curved Soffit Concrete Bridge Girders

Over the last few decades, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has been increasingly used in strengthening different structural concrete members. The main objective of this research is to study the influence of curvature on the performance of curved soffit reinforced concrete (RC) bridge girders that have been strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP). This experimental program was designed to evaluate the effect of concavity and soffit curvature on the CFRP laminate utilization and load capacity, compared to flat soffit RC beams strengthened with the same CFRP system. Accordingly, five beams, 2.7 m in length and having the same degree of soffit curvature (20 mm per 1 meter) extending over 2 meters of the span length, were tested under three-point monotonic static loading up to failure. CFRP pre-cured laminates were used for external strengthening in flexure. It was observed that 20 mm/m degree of curvature reduced the load-carrying capacity of strengthened concavely curved RC beams by 15.9 – 17.8%.