Fatigue Behavior of GFRP Reinforcing Bars in Air and in Concrete
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 18, Issue 5
Abstract
Although the use of glass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcing bars is gaining acceptance as an alternative to conventional steel reinforcement in concrete structures, little empirical data exist on the long-term fatigue performance of GFRP bars in concrete. Abrasion at the bar–concrete interface is known to have an adverse effect on bonds and on the overall member response under cyclic loading, although this effect was not adequately quantified until now. This paper presents the results of an experimental study comparing the fatigue performance of GFRP bars in air with the behavior of similar bars embedded in concrete. The experimental findings showed that the GFRP bars tested in air survived fatigue lives that were approximately a full order of magnitude longer than similar bars in concrete beams. The results were used to calibrate a statistical fatigue life model and a residual stiffness model for GFRP bars in reinforced concrete flexural members.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged.
References
Adimi, M. R., Rahman, A. H., and Benmokrane, B. (2000). “New method for testing fiber-reinforced polymer rods under fatigue.” J. Compos. Constr., 206–213.
Al-Mayah, A., Soudki, K., and Plumtree, A. (2006). “Development and assessment of a new CFRP rod-anchor system for prestressed concrete.” Appl. Compos. Mater., 13(5), 321–334.
Al-Mayah, A., Soudki, K., and Plumtree, A. (2007). “Novel anchor system for CFRP rod: Finite-element and mathematical models.” J. Compos. Constr., 469–476.
American Concrete Institute (ACI). (2006). “Guide for the design and construction of structural concrete reinforced with FRP bars.”, Detroit, MI.
Braimah, A. (2000). “Long-term and fatigue behavior of carbon fiber reinforced polymer prestressed concrete beams.” Ph.D. thesis, Queen’s Univ., Kingston, ON, Canada, 312.
Brondsted, P., Lilholt, H., and Anderson, S. I. (1997). “Fatigue damage prediction by measurements of the stiffness degradation in polymer matrix composites.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Fatigue of Composites Eight International Spring Meeting, La Societe Francaise de Metallurgie et de Materiaux, Paris, France.
El-Ragaby, A., El-Salakawy, E., and Benmokrane, B. (2007). “Fatigue life evaluation of concrete bridge deck slabs reinforced with glass FRP composite bars.” J. Compos. Constr., 258–268.
Fédération International de la Précontrainte (CEB-FIP). (2000). “Bond of reinforcement in concrete.” International Federation for Structural Concrete, Lausanne, Switzerland, 433.
Higgins, C., Farrow, W. C., Nicholas, B. S., and Potisuk, T. (2006). “High-cycle fatigue of diagonally cracked reinforced concrete bridge girders: Field tests.” J. Bridge Eng., 699–706.
Katz, A. (2000). “Bond to concrete of FRP rebars after cyclic loading.” J. Compos. Constr., 137–144.
Pilkey, W. D., and Pilkey, D. F. (2008). Peterson’s stress concentration factors, 3rd Ed., Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
Post, N. L., Bausano, J., Case, S. W., and Lesko, J. J. (2006). “Modeling the remaining strength of structural composite materials subjected to fatigue.” Int. J. Fatig., 28(10), 1100–1108.
Post, N. L., Lesko, J. J., and Case, S. W. (2010). “Residual strength fatigue theories for composite materials.” Fatigue life prediction of composites and composite structures, A. P. Vassiloupolos, ed., Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge, U.K., 79–101.
Rahman, A. H., Adimi, M. R., and Benmokrane, B. (1996). “Fatigue behavior of FRP reinforcements encased in concrete.” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Advanced Composite Materials in Bridges and Structures, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Montreal, QC, Canada, 691–698.
Sendeckyj, G. P. (1981). “Fitting models to composite materials fatigue data.”, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA, 245–260.
Sendeckyj, G. P. (1991). “Life prediction for resin-matrix composite materials.” Fatigue of composite materials, K. L. Reifsnider, ed., Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Blacksburg, VA, 431–484.
Vassilopoulos, A. P., and Keller, T. (2011). “Fatigue of fiber-reinforced composites.” Engineering materials and processes, Springer, London.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 18 • Issue 5 • October 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 27, 2013
Accepted: Dec 26, 2013
Published online: Feb 5, 2014
Discussion open until: Jul 5, 2014
Published in print: Oct 1, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.