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International Journal of Material and Mechanical Engineering (IJMME) Volume 2 Issue 2, May 2013

Damage Assessment and Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams

Lakshmikandhan K. N1, Sivakumar P2, Ravichandran R3
Structural Engineering Research Centre, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR Campus, Taramani, Chennai, India - 600 113.
1-3 1

laknam553@yahoo.com, 2sivagee@yahoo.com, 3ravi5458@yahoo.co.in has drawn attention to knowledge acquisition and application techniques concerning repair and strengthening of damaged and undamaged structures. This structural damages and deficiencies are caused due to accidents, radical attacks, material deterioration, natural hazards and revision of load standards. The location and magnitude of visible damages can be determined through physical inspections. The visual inspection has limited scope for the identification of internal damages. The internal damages can be observed from stiffness degradation using static test data, dynamic excitation of structure, health monitoring applications, optimization using genetic algorithm, artificial neural network developed with trained data and material permeability tests. The distressed and deficient structural components are repaired/rehabilitated using the present material advancements. In earlier days, steel plates widely practised in repair of deficient or damaged concrete structures have its own limitation in terms of strength, resistance to corrosion and dimensional instability towards temperature variation. This impelled researchers to search for more reliable and innovative solutions. Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) sheets and strips are identified as a solution. It has become an emerging material in construction industry, which is extensively used for repair and rehabilitation, internal reinforcement in concrete, pre and post-stressing tendons and other infrastructural applications. The use of FRP is also growing popular in restoring the structural deficiencies in faulty design and construction and due to accidental damage. Adhesives and resins are used to attach the fibres at appropriate locations of deficient structures. The development of these polymeric materials, such as Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastics (CFRP), Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) and Aramid Fibre Reinforced Plastics (AFRP) has allowed a greater flexibility in material selection in strengthening reinforced concrete

Abstract The repair and rehabilitation of concrete structures has become a necessary measure for deficient structures. The deficiency of structure is generally due to the unexpected loads, corrosion and upgradation of load standards. Concrete structures are generally subjected to very light to severe damage due to seismic and wind loads. The visual damages can be comfortably observed during visual inspection, but the damages occurred internally needs examination through experimental and/or analytical investigation. These methods also have their own limitations. The present study was carried out to arrive at the percentage of damage in reinforced concrete beam from its stiffness degradation. A repair mechanism for concrete beam with a particular percentage of damage has been attempted. CFRP which is a well accepted and efficient material for repair and rehabilitation is used in this study. The reinforced concrete beam has been tested and the performance under cyclic load has been observed. The stiffness degradation in each cycle has been observed for an equivalent damage assessment. The information on damage level from the results is used to predict the loading required to simulate the required percentage of damage. A guideline for simulation of required percentage damage has been arrived. In a set of experiments, beams were subjected to different levels of loading to create varying percentage damage and then the damaged beams were repaired with CFRP. The undamaged control beam has been strengthened with CFRP laminates and the repaired/strengthened beams were tested under monotonic load for comparison. The study has confirmed the applicability of cyclic loading method to evolve the stiffness degradation and damage assessment. The bonding strength of CFRP governs the strength of the repaired beams in most cases. The bonding of CFRP is better in the cracked beams than in the un-cracked beam. The results have also shown that the repaired damaged beams outperformed than the undamaged control beam strengthened with CFRP. Keywords: Reinforced Concrete; CFRP; Cyclic Load; Damage Assessment; Repair and Rehabilitation

Introduction In the recent decades, research on reinforced concrete

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structures. The FRP completely replaces steel plates in repair and strengthening of reinforced concrete structures due to its excellent material characteristics. The use of FRP for civil engineering applications is relatively high in last few decades compared to the other applications including aircraft, boats, automobile accessories, chemical storage tanks and other industrial applications. For better understanding of these polymer materials, the material characteristics of different materials are compared in FIG. 1 (Salama et. al. 2010)

FIG. 1 TYPICAL STRESS-STRAIN RELATIONSHIPS OF FRP COMPOSITES AND MILD STEEL

The simplicity in FRP applications made them extremely attractive for use in civil infrastructure applications, especially where the dead weight, space, or time restrictions exist. The strength of CFRP is about thrice that of prestressing steel strands and fairly high compared with other fibre plastics. The strengthening of RC structure with externally bonded CFRP sheets is emerging with following advantages in terms of light weight, corrosion resistant, favourable mechanical properties, low scaffolding, labour costs and minimum interruptions during application. Due to the above reasons, it is readily adopted in the present investigation on repair/strengthening of reinforced concrete beam with intended percentage of damage. Assessment on damage of distressed beams and the actual damages differ. The repair methodology suitable for the assessed damage also differs. A possible simplified solution to overcome the problems in assessing and simulating the exact damage is efficient in time and cost on damage simulation and repair methodologies. Related works on Damage Assessment and Rehabilitation The distress weakens the structural components. The

damage may be in a single part of structure and the damage progressed to adjacent parts makes the structure fail early. The damage assessment was very popular in aerospace and naval engineering in very early days. In past few decades, the damage assessment in construction industry got more attention particularly after the seismic and storm hazards. The physical inspection techniques are widely used to evaluate the location and magnitude of visible damages present in the structures. The visual inspection has a wide scope for the damage assessment of structures with limitation on the internal damage assessment. The internal damages can be observed from stiffness degradation using static test data, dynamic excitation of structure, health monitoring applications, optimization and genetic algorithm developed with trained data and material permeability tests. These methods of damage detection are carried out by dynamic or static based techniques. The static test data is estimated damage from the load and deflection observations. In the dynamic techniques, the damages are assessed based on the change in the natural frequencies, mode shapes and other dynamic characteristics of the system. Using one or more of these techniques, the damages were identified. Structural health monitoring of structure has been generally classified into global or local approaches. Global approaches are based on relatively lowfrequency vibration measurements of the structure. The first few modes are observed and this information is used to assess the locations and the amount of damage. The global approaches are not suitable for the detection of relatively small damages and the damages occurring internally. The Non Destructive Testing (NDT) methods like ultrasonic pulse velocity techniques, impact acoustic emission, radiography and etc. are the localized visual methods. Several analytical techniques have been developed to deduct the damage present in the structural elements. The optimization with genetic algorithm, artificial neural network, finite element modeling and wavelet methods have been used to deduct the damage. Sanayei and Onipede (1992) proposed an analytical approach for damage identification at element level using static test data. The applied load and the derived deflection are used to obtain the stiffness of the elements. The cross sectional properties and the possible damages were arrived from the results. Cerri and Vestroni (2000) developed a model for the damage zone as a beam element with a reduced flexural stiffness. The position, the extent of the damage and the reduction of the elemental flexural stiffness are exercised to define damage. Zhu and Law (2007) developed a finite element based model for the
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International Journal of Material and Mechanical Engineering (IJMME) Volume 2 Issue 2, May 2013

damage assessment in reinforced concrete beams. The damage in the reinforced concrete beam occurs due to the formation of micro cracks and macro cracks. The macro crack causes debonding with large slip and the reduction in load transferring capacity of beam. The above assessment methods are used to detect the level of damage present in the structural elements and the service status of structure. The distressed elements are repaired with suitable repair materials. The application of CFRP in rehabilitation of structure is popular in recent construction scenario. About 50 percent of bridges in India are damaged and need suitable repair methodology. Atadero et al (2005) has proposed the FRP composites as externally bonded reinforcements for rehabilitation of bridge girders and decks. The light weight and durability are main advantages of CFRP laminates resulting in ease of handling and maintenance. Sayed-Ahmed et al (2009) investigated strengthened RC beams and slabs under flexure and reported the laminate debonding from the concrete surface. The failure modes may either be crushing or tensile rupture of the FRP. Ceroni (2010) investigated RC beams with externally bonded CFRP laminates and Near Surface Mounted (NSM) bars under monotonic and cyclic loads. The load carrying capacity increased about 26% to 50% for reinforced concrete with lower steel reinforcement percentage and about 17% to 33% for higher steel reinforcement percentage. Yasmeen Taleb Obaidat (2010) and Lakshmikandhan et al (2012) presented the behaviour of retrofitted beams from the experimental and analytical studies. The results have showed that the width and stiffness of CFRP affected the failure modes of retrofitted beams. The increase of CFRP stiffness has increased the maximum load to a certain value, thereafter the stiffness increase resulted in decreases of load capacity. Talat Salama et al (2010) has investigated the feasibility as an option to strengthen the steel bridges and the delamination failure was reported. Tuakta et al (2011) reported the effects of moisture on concrete/epoxy/FRP bond system. The interface is characterized by means of the tri-layer fracture toughness, which can be obtained

experimentally from peel and shear fracture tests. From the literatures, several methods have been identified to assess the damage of distressed structural elements for the repair and rehabilitation. However, there is a gap between the actual and assessed damage. It is also found that the simulation of exact level of damage in the structural elements is difficult. The repair methodology suitable for the assessed damage also differs. The present study attempted to obtain a possible solution to overcome the problem in simulating the exact damage and to simplify the repair methodology to be adopted. The stiffness degradation method which is widely used analytically to estimate the damage is adopted experimentally in this study. A reinforced concrete beam has been tested with two point cyclic load with incremental load level to obtain the data to simulate the specific damage level. The data developed are used to obtain the preload required for the beams to simulate expected damage level. The damaged beams are repaired, tested and compared with the strengthened control beam. Experimental Program Flexural tests have been conducted with two points loading on 1.5 meter length of reinforced concrete beam with size 100 mm width and depth of 200 mm as shown in FIG. 2a. The grade of concrete used for the section design is 60 MPa and the grade of steel is 415 MPa. The design mix for the design strength M60 is obtained from the trail mix with a proportion of 1: 1.7: 2.5: 0.273 for cement, fine and course aggregate and water cement ratio. Super plasticizer has been used to improve the workability. The simply supported condition is ensured by placing one end over the hinge and the other end is over the roller support. The load is applied through hydraulic jack in sequential cyclic load increment with a suitable increment under two point loading as shown in FIG. 2b. The tested beam is designated as BT0 for the comparison. The results observed from the test are used for the selection of particular damage level.

FIG. 2A TYPICAL TWO POINT LOADING SETUP WITH INSTRUMENTATION DETAILS

FIG. 2B ULTIMATE TOP COMPRESSION

CRUSHING FAILURE

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The fully damaged beam is repaired with a suitable measure and the repaired beam is designated as RBT0. The crushed loose concrete at top is chipped further to the level below the top reinforcement for maximum integrity with fresh concrete. The chipped portion is recast with the concrete of equivalent concrete strength. In this present exercise, the mix design of concrete is available and the same concrete mix is used to fill the top bare portion as shown in FIG. 3a. The CFRP with length 1250 mm, width 50 mm and thickness 1.2 mm is pasted at concrete bottom with specific resin paste as shown in FIG. 3b.

is a beam tested to visible first crack with sudden fall in stiffness. The beam designated as BT3 is pre loaded to about 70 to 80 percentage of loss in original stiffness. The BT4 is a beam tested to about 80 to 90 percentage loss in initial beam stiffness before reaching the ultimate failure load. The proposed percentage of damage in respect of percentage of distress in reinforced concrete beam is shown in FIG. 4b. With CFRP, the pre-cracked beam is repaired and the un-cracked beam is strengthened. The beams are tested to failure after the recommended curing period of resin. The deflections under the loading points and at the centre of beam are observed. The strain at top and bottom concrete layers, strain at CFRP bottom and strain at interface are recorded and compared.

FIG. 3A TYPICAL VIEW ON REPAIR OF TOP CONCRETE COMPRESSION

PORTION

FIG. 4A TYPICAL VIEW OF STRAIN GAUGE USED FOR INTERFACE STRAIN

MEASUREMENT

FIG. 3B TYPICAL VIEW ON REPAIR OF BOTTOM CONCRETE BEAM TENSION

PORTION

The repaired beam is tested under two point cyclic loading in a cyclic sequential order as explained in the earlier test. The test is continued until the beam fails completely as shown in Figure.4a. The failure of repaired concrete beam is started with delamination and continued with debonding. The strain at top and bottom concrete layers, strain at CFRP bottom and strain at interface are recorded. A novel approach is proposed to measure the strain at interface. The strain gauges have been placed over the resin towards CFRP surface and another coat of resin applied over the strain gauge. The CFRP is pasted over the resin as shown in figure 4a. Using the test results, the beam with various damage levels have been created by pre loading. A beam designated as BT1 is tested to ultimate failure in monotonic load increment. The BT2

FIG. 4B PROPOSED PERCENTAGE OF DISTRESS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE

BEAM

Result and Discussion The load is applied on BT0 in step with suitable load
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increment in each cycle at one third points and the corresponding deflections at the centre span and under the load points are observed and plotted as shown in FIG. 5a. The strains at the top and bottom concrete

superimposes the cyclic load performance with about 10 percent variation. The load deflection performance of BT-0 and BT-1 clearly shows a uniform flexural behaviour. The present work is carried out to get an overview on beam damage level in respect of stiffness degradation. The reduction in stiffness of specimen is normally proportional to the damage occurring in the specimen with material plastic formation.
Load vs Deflection
80

60

Load, kN

40

BT-0 BT-1

FIG. 5A CYCLIC LOAD DEFLECTION PLOT FOR REINFORCED CONCRETE

BEAM

20

0 0 3

Deflection, mm

12

15

FIG. 6 LOAD DEFLECTION COMPARISON OF REINFORCED CONCRETE

BEAM

The plot shows the stiffness variations corresponding to the load applied as shown in FIG. 7a. The stiffness variation arrived at the upper load and lower load level in each cycle is plotted in FIG. 7b.
Load vs Stiffness (Cyclic Load Test)
100

Stiffness, kN/mm

80

BT0
60 40 20 0 0 20 40 60 80

FIG. 5B CYCLIC LOAD BOTTOM STEEL STRAIN OF REINFORCED

CONCRETE BEAM

surfaces and at the bottom steel main reinforcement are recorded in each load step. The maximum compression of 2267 micro strains at top concrete surface is observed during the failure load. The beam reached ultimate load at 74 kN with maximum deflection of 12.5 mm. The load deflection plot for the cyclic load test is shown in FIG. 5a. The strain at top concrete and at the bottom steels is shown in figure.5b. The maximum tensile strain of 5600 micro strain is observed at failure load in the main reinforcement. As well the strain at failure is very much lower compared to 0.002 + (0.87*f y /E s, Where f y = Steel yield stress and E s = Youngs modulus of steel) which indicates the ductile performance of the tested reinforced concrete beam. The deflections at each cycles load incremental points are compared with the monotonic load test of beam as shown in FIG. 6 for better understanding. The behaviour of beam under monotonic load
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Load, kN

FIG. 7A CYCLIC LOAD VERSUS STIFFNESS VARIATION OF RC BEAM TESTED

FIG. 7B STIFFNESS VARIATION COMPARISON OF BEAM IN CYCLIC AND

MONOTONIC LOADING

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The curves presented in figures 7a and 7b clearly show a sudden decrease in stiffness at the load range of 20 to 25 kN which represents the crack initiation. The beam stiffness is about 40 kN/mm observed at the first crack load. Similarly, the beam reserves about 10 kN/mm when the load reaches about 62 kN in the present exercise. Beam stiffness is about 7 kN/mm observed at ultimate failure load i.e., about 70 kN. The reduction in stiffness with respect to the load applied information can be wisely used to select the reinforced concrete beam damage percentage for the appropriate damage selection, repair and rehabilitation conditions. The remaining flexural stiffness of the reinforced concrete member directly gives the information about the damage status of beam. The stiffness degradation in each cycle is presented in figure.7b. The stiffness calculated herewith is upper and lower load in cycle with the deflection difference. The stiffness calculated from both the methods fails to show much difference but there is slight difference after the first crack load. Even though the stiffness has about 5 to 10 percent variation, these differences can be neglected for the simplified damage assessment procedure. The damage in the reinforced concrete beam is calculated from the initial beam stiffness and the stiffness at the load is considered which is termed as percentage of stiffness degradation.

repair methodology gets more meaning for the selection of damaged beam with appropriate percentage of damage. From the plot, the damage at first crack load is about 50 to 65 percent and when the load reaches about 40 kN load, it has about 80 percentage of damage. Similarly when the beam is loaded to 62 kN, which produces about 85 percentage of damage and at the ultimate load induces about 90 percentage of damage. The various levels of damaged beams have been selected for the repair and rehabilitation from the above by pre loading. The load deflection plot of beams which aimed at pre-insisted damage level is shown in FIG. 9a. The pre-cracked, damaged reinforced concrete beams have been repaired with CFRP. The bottom concrete surface is prepared to pasted the CFRP plate and be kept for curing. The two point load is applied and the responses are observed. The rehabilitated beams are designated with the same identity of corresponding beam with prefixed letter R. The load deflection responses of the repaired and strengthened beams are compared in FIG. 9b.

= Initial beam stiffness = Stiffness at load level considered The percentage of stiffness degradation arrived based on the above, is shown in FIG. 8 and from this plot the percentage of damage can be obtained.

FIG. 9A LOAD VERSUS OF DEFLECTION OF PRE-LOADED REINFORCED

CONCRETE BEAMS

FIG. 8 LOAD VERSUS STIFFNESS DEGRADATION / PERCENTAGE OF

DAMAGE

FIG. 9B LOAD VERSUS OF DEFLECTION COMPARISON OF REPAIRED BEAM

WITH REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM

Based on the graphs presented in figures 7 and 8, the

The repaired beams are performed in an identical

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pattern. The damage level in reinforced concrete beam and repaired concrete beam from the cyclic load tests are present in FIG. 10a. The stiffness variation of repaired beam corresponding to the applied load is given in FIG. 10b.

FIG. 10A COMPARISON OF DAMAGE IN REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM

AND REPAIRED BEAM

The excess damage has produced numerous cracks from the centre span nearer to support, which offers control over the strain concentration at end of CFRP and also avoids sudden failure at the peak. The opening of previously developed cracks increases the beam deflection and energy dissipation which offers notable load increase before and after the end debonding or delamination. The repaired beam can be wisely used to carry an additional 25 to 30 percentage of load for the upgraded load standards and code revisions. In the other case of un-cracked strengthened beam, the strain concentration is at the end of CFRP and results in reduction of load with higher stiffness. The load carrying capacity of strengthened beam is about 15 percent lower compared to repaired beam in the present study. The high stiffness of strengthened beam is over straining of interface and end causes the beam to fail suddenly compared to the repaired beams. The results infer that the un-distressed beam needs more surface roughening for the better performance of strengthened beam. Conclusions The experimental investigation has been performed to obtain recommendation to overcome the issues in assessment on the exact damage for simulation. The following conclusions have been made with suggestions for the future expansion.

FIG. 10B COMPARISON OF STIFFNESS VARIATION IN REPAIRED BEAMS ALONG THE LOAD PATH

From the above graphs, it is inferred that the damage level between about 0 and 85 percentage exhibits uniform trend. The top concrete crushed beam which has a damage level of above 85 percent exhibits a different behaviour. Irrespective of damage level between 40 and 90 percent, all the repaired beams have failed at about 90 to 95 kN. The repaired beams restored the strength of initial beam with about 30 percentage additional load capacity. The presence of damage improves the performance of beam repaired with CFRP. The micro and macro cracks offered more surface area to paste CFRP with concrete at the interface. The cracks also redistribute the forces throughout the beam delaying end debonding which can be observed from the maximum compressive strain in concrete at failure. The maximum strain in the bottom steel is observed about 1800 micro strain and the strain in CFRP is about 3500 micro strains which indicate the ductile failure.
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1. The stiffness degradation method has been developed to estimate and simulate the exact damage level into beam performed well. The present investigation is carried out for an under- reinforced concrete beam which needs further work on various strength parameters of reinforced concrete beam to make at a generalized damage evaluation method. 2. The repaired reinforced concrete beam with damage levels (load level between first crack and ultimate load) between 40 and 90 percent of ultimate load exhibited uniform behaviour. 3. The exact assessment on damage in reinforced concrete beam is unwarranted as the strength of the repaired beam is governed by the interfacial bond strength between CFRP and concrete surface of the beam. Hence the cost and time required for the exact assessment on damage of reinforced concrete beam for repair can be reduced. 4. The numerical simulation of accurate damage level into the mathematical modeling of damaged beam requires supplementary cost and time. The present

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investigation suggests that the simulation of repaired concrete beam with approximate damage is sufficient to get a reasonably accurate result. 5. The repaired beams restore the original strength with about 30 percentage additional load capacity. 6. The presence of damage improves the performance of repaired RC beam with more energy dissipation and delays debonding or delamination. This ensures the reusability of damaged reinforced concrete beam with a reserve of additional strength for future load enhancement and code revisions. 7. The strengthened, un-cracked beam shows a weak and brittle performance compared to repaired cracked beams. The load carrying capacity of strengthened uncracked beam is about 15 percent lower compared to repaired beam in the present study. The failure pattern of repaired beam shows additional bond at the cracks, which infers that the strengthening of undamaged beam needs deep surface roughening for better performance.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

CFRP sheets, Engineering structures. Vol. 29, pp 24282444. Garden H.N and Hollaway L.C(1998), An Experimental Study of the Influence of Plate End Anchorage of Carbon Fiber Composite Plates used to Strengthen Reinforced Concrete Beams, Composite Structures, Vol. 42, pp 17588. Hadi M.N.S (2003), Retrofitting of shear failed reinforced concrete beams, Composite Structures, Vol.62, pp 16. Sivakumar P, Lakshmikandhan K N, Ravichandran R and Manisekar R (2012), Analytical and Experimental Studies on RC Beams Strengthened with CFRP Strip Bonding, SERC Research Report no. CAD/OLP 14441/RR-(14). Lakshmikandhan K N, Sivakumar P and Ravichandran R (2012), Cyclic Load Performance Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Beam and Repaired Concrete Beam, SERC Research Report No. CAD/OLP 14441/RR-(15). Meier, U., and Kaiser, H (1991), Strengthening of Structures with CFRP Laminates, Proceedings of the Speciality Conference: Advanced Composite Materials in Civil Engineering Structures, ASCE, pp. 224-232. Meirer. U and Winistorfer A (1995), Retrofitting of Structures Through External Bonding of CFRP Sheets, Non-Metallic Reinforcement for Concrete Structures, pp 465-472. Nanni A (1995), Concrete Repair with Externally Bonded FRP Reinforcement, Concrete International, ACI, Vol.6, pp 22-26. Wong R S Y and Vecchio J, Towards modeling of reinforced concrete pp.47-55. Ross A, Jerome D.M, Tedesco J.W, and Hughes M.L, Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams with Externally Bonded Composite Laminates, ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 96, pp 212-221. Sanayei M, Onipede O (1991), Damage assessment of structures using static testdata, AIAA Journal, vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 11741179. Sayed-Ahmed E.Y., Bakay R., Shrive N.G., Bond Strength of FRP Laminates to Concrete: State-of-the-Art Review Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol.9. 41 members with externally bonded fibrereinforced polymer composites, ACI structural journal,

This paper is being published with the kind permission of Director, CSIR-SERC, Chennai.
REFERENCES

Atadero, Lee, L., and Karbhari, V (2005), Consideration of material variability in reliability analysis of FRP strengthened bridge decks, Structures , vol. 70, pp 430-443. Al-Amery R and Al-Mahaidi R (2006), Coupled flexural shear retrofitting of RC beams using CFRP straps, Composite Structures, Vol. 75, pp 457464. Cao S. Y., Chen J. F., Teng G., Hao Z. and Chen J (2005), Debonding in RC Beams Shear Strengthened with Complete FRP Wraps, Journal of Composites for Construction, Vol. 9, No.5, pp 417-428. Ceroni F (2010), Experimental performances of RC beams strengthened with FRP materials, Construction and Building Materials, Science Direct, April 2010. Cerri M N, Vestroni F (2000), Detection of damage in beams subjected to diffused cracking Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 234, No. 2, pp. 259276. Esfahani, M., Kianoush, M., and Tajari, A (2007), Flexural behaviour of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by Journal of Composite

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Saxena P, Toutanji H and Noumowe A (2008), Failure analysis of FRPstrengthened RC beams, Journal of Composites for Construction, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp 2-14. Shih J. K. C., Tann, D. B., Hu, C. W., Delapk, R., and Andreou, E. (2003) Remote sensing of air blisters in concrete-FRP bond layer using IR thermography, Int. J. Mater. Prod. Technol., Vol.19, No. 12, pp 174187. Smith S.T and Teng J.G (2002), FRP-Strengthened RC Beams I: Review of Debonding Strength Models, Engineering Structures, Vol.24, pp 385-395. Teng J. G, Lam L. and Chen J. F. (2004), Shear strengthening of RC beams with FRP composites, New materials in construction, Vol.6, pp173178. Tuakta a, O. Bykztrk b (2011), Deterioration of FRP/concrete bond system under variable moisture conditions quantied by fracture mechanics, Science direct. Talat Salama and Ahmed Abd-El-Meguid (2010),Strengthening Steel Bridge Girders using CFRP UTCA Report Number 06217. Teng J.G, Zhang J.W, and Smith S.T (2002), Interfacial Stresses in Reinforced Concrete Beams Bonded with a Soffit Plate: A Finite Element Study, Construction and Building Materials, Vol. 16, pp 1-14. Wang Y.C., Lee M.G. and Chen B.C (2007), Experimental study of FRP-strengthened RC bridge girders subjected to fatigue loading, Composite Structures, Vol. 81, pp

491498. Zhu X.Q., Law S.S. (2007) A concretesteel interface element for damage detection of reinforced concrete structures, Engineering Structures 29 (2007) 35153524. Lakshmikandhan K. N. received his Ph.D. degree in civil engineering from Anna University, Chennai, India, in 2010, and he earned Postgraduate degree in structural engineering from the same University. He is currently a scientist in Structural Engineering Research Centre Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Chennai, India. His research interest includes Space Frame Structures, Concrete and Composite Structures, Computer Aided analysis and Design of Structures (CAD), Finite Element Analysis, Repair and Rehabilitation, External Prestressing and Steel Structures. Sivakumar P. obtained Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Anna University, India in 2003. He is working as Senior Principal Scientist in Structural Engineering Research Centre, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. His research interests include Computer Aided analysis and Design of Structures (CAD), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Structural Optimisation and Genetic Algorithms (GA), Transmission Line Towers and Microwave Towers, Prefabricated Buildings, Repair and Rehabilitation of Concrete Structures, FEM and Sustainable technologies. Ravichandran R. received his M.sc. degree from the University of Madras, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India in 1980. He is currently working as senior principal scientist at CSIRS.E.R.C. Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. His research interests include Finite element Modeling, Computer aided design Software development for structural engineering applications and repair and rehabilitation.

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