Flexural Rehabilitation and Strengthening of Concrete Beams with BFRP Composite

This paper reports on load tests conducted on seven full-scale RC beam specimens. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of using an emerging and greener material, basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite, as a candidate material for flexural strengthening and rehabilitation of RC beams. The test parameters chosen in this study are the flexural reinforcement ratio, corrosion level, number of layers of BFRP composite, and cross-strapping scheme. The study finds that BFRP composite is a suitable material for flexural strengthening and rehabilitation of RC beams because a large gain in the strength can be achieved by using externally bonded BFRP composite, especially if premature debonding-induced failure of a RC beam can be avoided through implementation of a proper cross-strapping scheme. The study also finds that BFRP flexural strengthening and rehabilitation can reduce the ductility of RC beams; however, the reduction is limited to 30%.