Flexural response of RC beam strengthened with BFRP plate

Strengthening serves the better economical solution in an immediate shelter rather than replacing the entire structure. Recently, fiber-reinforced polymers are gaining more attention in strengthening structural components and shoddy infrastructures. This paper reveals the efficaciousness of basalt fiber reinforced polymer plate strengthening in the reinforced concrete beam subjected to static loading. The beams are externally strengthened by bonding the basalt fiber reinforced polymer plate at the soffit of the RC beam. Also, the basalt fiber layers are increased in numbers to check the load-enhancing capacity. This study also compares the experimental, numerical, and regression analyses for the controlled and strengthened reinforced concrete beams. ANSYS and ANN models are simulated for predicting the load-carrying capacity and the maximum deflection of the strengthened reinforced concrete beams. The result shows that the basalt fiber reinforcing polymer plate is promising to enhance the flexural response of the RC beam in terms of load-carrying capacity, stiffness, and ductility. Finally, this study concluded that the regression analysis and numerical analysis are effectively supported with experimental results by a significant percentage of deviation.