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Finite Element Prediction of Brittle Failure in RC Beams Strengthened with

Externally Bonded FRP

Conference Paper · October 2016

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 Finite Element Prediction of Brittle Failure in RC
Beams Strengthened with Externally Bonded FRP
Akram Jawdhari
Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY-40503, United States
akram.hassan@uky.edu
Ali Semendary
Dep. of Civil Engineering, Ohio University, Athens, OH-45701, United States
as295111@ohio.edu
Nawfal Hsaine
School of mechanics and Systems Engineering, Newcastle University,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom
n.n.m.hsaine1@newcastle.ac.uk

Abstract— The use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)

composites for repairing and strengthening of reinforced and
prestressed concrete, as well as steel and masonry structures has
proved to be an effective way of upgrading the infrastructure
because FRP products offer an excellent corrosion resistance,
high strength and stiffness to weight ratio, ease of transportation,
handling, and application. When strengthening RC members
with FRP material, a typical strength increase is desired. A
conventional failure by either, concrete crushing in the
compressive region, or rupture of FRP composite in the tensile
soffit, can provide the desired strength enhancement. However,
in most cases, the desired strengthening capacity will not be
achieved due to premature failures which take place before the
ultimate capacity is reached. Concrete cover separation (CCS)
has been frequently observed pre-mature failure in RC beams
strengthened or retrofitted with FRP plates. This study
investigates, using three-dimensional finite element (FE) models,
the behavior of RC beams strengthened in flexure with externally
bonded Carbon FRP (CFRP) material, when CCS is the mode of
failure. Four FRP strengthened RC beams, previously tested in
four-point bending and experienced CCS failure, were simulated
at several loading stages, cracking, yielding, and failure. A
section of the FE model, at the cut-off location of CFRP, was
examined to determine the failure load. A stress failure criterion,
based on the concrete strength, is implemented. At each load
step in the model, normal stresses at the section were observed
and compared to the concrete tensile strength, and when the
maximum tensile stress exceeds the concrete’s tensile strength,
CCS failure is assumed to initiate and the accompanying load
step is considered to be the ultimate load. Comparisons with the
experiment, have suggested a good correlation of results between
FE and the experiment, and validated the post-processing
analysis procedure.
Keywords—Reinforced concrete; FRP; debonding; Concrete
cover separation; flexure; Finite element.
INTRODUCTION
Available studies in the literature for FRP bonded RC
beams have indicated the occurrence of six possible failure
types ([1], [2], and [3]), Fig. 1. Three of those modes are
similarly observed in conventional RC beams. The three are
named: (a) FRP rupture, (b) concrete crushing in the outermost
compressive region, and (c) concrete shear failure. Far from the
conventional modes, failure of FRP plated RC beams can be
due to premature debonding at the concrete/adhesive or
adhesive/FRP interfaces. Generally, debonding modes can be
classified into two categories: those that start at or near the
end(s) of FRP plates and propagate toward the beam center
(named as plate end debonding); and those that initiate at an
intermediate flexural or flexural-shear crack and then progress
from that crack toward the plate end (named as intermediate
crack induced interfacial debonding). Concrete cover
separation [CCS] (d), and plate end interfacial debonding (e)
belong to the first category, while intermediate crack induced
interfacial debonding (f) belongs to the second one. Of these
two debonding failure categories, plate end debonding is the
most reported one [1].
Research studies have shown that among the debonding
failures, concrete cover separation (will be referred to as CCS
for brevity) has been far more commonly observed ([1], [2],
and [3]). This failure mode has also been named as “concrete
rip-off, debond at rebar layer, local shear failure, end of plate
failure through concrete, concrete cover delamination’’. The
general concept of concrete cover separation is that the failure
is initiated by the formation of a major crack at or near the
plate cut-off point, because of high interfacial shear and
normal (peeling) stresses as result of the material discontinuity
and abrupt termination of the plate.
 away from within concrete cover, the rods were idealized
using area-equivalent CFRP plate with same width and
mechanical properties. Solid 185 element was used to model
the CFRP plate. Perfect bond was assumed between concrete
and CFRP plate and the adhesive layer was ignored. Fig. 3
shows the FE model of the RC strengthened beam. The load
was divided into sub-steps, and Newton-Raphson method was
used for calculating and updating the stiffness along with
convergence criteria for load and displacement.
A multilinear stress-strain model was implemented for
A. Selecting a Template (Heading 2)
concrete in compression while a linear model was used for the
tensile behavior of concrete until cracking, which was defined
as the modulus of rupture according to ACI code [6]. For
steel, both longitudinal and shear reinforcement, an elastic
perfectly plastic model is assumed to model the steel material.
A linear elastic behavior was entered for the CFRP plate.
Fig. 1. Failure modes of FRP plated RC beams ([1]) Since the CCS failure is brittle and propagates very fast
when a major crack initiates in the concrete close to the cut-
off point of the strengthening material, leading to a total loss
NUMERICAL SIMULATION
of strength, most available commercial finite element
The objective of this study is to provide a reliable packages don’t recognize this type of failure. Therefore, a post
numerical simulation for the CCS failure that is frequently processing analysis with failure criteria is performed to
observed in RC members retrofitted with FRP external identify the ultimate failure load when CCS takes place. The
reinforcement. In order to validate the FE results, the failure criteria used in the current study is such that when the
numerical simulations are compared to experimental data maximum principle tensile stress in concrete near the tension
available in literature, on FRP strengthened RC beams. Four rebar closest to the cut-off point of CFRP plate is greater than
experimental beams, tested by [4], are used in this study for the concrete’s tensile strength obtained from ACI code (ACI
validation of FE outcomes. Those experimental beams are code 318-116), CCS failure occurs and the accompanying load
3000 mm (120 in.) in length and have a square cross-section step is considered to be the ultimate load. Fig. 3 describes the
of 150 x 150 mm (6 x 6 in.). Steel reinforcement consists of post processing procedure used in identifying the failure load
four, 10 mm (0.375 in.) in diameter, longitudinal rebars, and for one of the experimental beams.
shear stirrups with 3 mm (0.125 in.) diameter, Fig 2. External
reinforcement consists of CFRP rod panels, designated in [4]
as “CRP-XXX”. Each CRP is made of small diameter CFRP
rods with defined spacing between the rods. Two of the
experimental beams were strengthened with CRP-070, made
of 2.00 mm (0.078 in.) in diameter rods spaced at 6.35 mm
(0.25 in.); while the other two specimens were strengthened
with CRP-195, made of 4.00 mm (0.156 in.) in diameter rods
spaced at 9.35 mm (0.375 in.).
All beams had the same concrete dimensions, internal
steel reinforcement, and were tested under the same loading a- Longitudinal view the RC beam.
conditions. The tested beams were analyzed by nonlinear 3D CFRP rods
finite element method, using ANSYS commercial software
[5]. Due to symmetry in loading, geometry, material, and
support conditions, only a quarter of the beam was modeled.
Concrete was divided into [38 x 38 x 38 mm (1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5
b- Bottom face of the RC beam.
in.)] prisms and modeled using solid 65 elements. Solid 65
element has three degrees of freedom at each node,
translations in the global x, y, and z directions, and it is
capable of representing concrete’s inherent nonlinear
properties such as cracking in three orthogonal directions,
crushing, creep, and plastic deformations [5]. For steel, both
CFRP rods
longitudinal rebars and shear stirrups, discrete approach was
employed with the use of link188 elements. Perfect bond was
assumed between concrete and steel; and this was achieved by c- Cross section details.
making sure that both concrete and steel elements share the
Fig. 2. Tested RC beam details ([4])
same node connectivity. For CFRP rods, since the failure was
 TABLE 1. RESULTS OF FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Longitudinal rebar
Finite Element Prediction
Beam Experimental failure
Shear stirrups code. load [1]
Failure load Predicted/
experimental
kN Kip kN Kip

Idealized CFRP plate CS70 38.904 8.746 37.845 8.508 0.973

SS70 37.939 8.529 35.960 8.084 0.948
CS195 37.494 8.429 42.578 9.572 1.135
SS195 35.715 8.029 37.304 8.386 1.044
Concrete

Fig. 3. Finite element model of RC beam

Failure load in Maximum principle stress P

pounds, to be occurs in the concrete near
multiplied by four the panel’s end.
for the entire model

Maximum tensile stress is

Δ
larger than the concrete’s
tensile strength

Fig. 4. Post processing and failure criteria analysis of FE beam model [beam
SS195]
a. Beam No. CS70

RESULTS
Table.1 lists the failure load obtained from finite element
solution and the predicted/experimental load ratio for the
experimental beams tested in [4]. Generally, a good agreement
in terms of failure load predictions were obtained using F.E
model. The ratio of predicted-to-experimental ultimate load P
ranged between 0.973 to 1.044. The CCS failure was
recognized in the FE model, and all beams experienced high
tensile stresses in the concrete near the cut-off point of CFRP Δ
material which indicates the onset of CCS (See Fig. 3). In Fig.
4, the load-deflection curve at the beam mid-span section is
shown. The finite element model seems to correlate well with
the experimental data. The only exception is the behavior of
beam CS70 after cracking load. The FE curve displayed stiffer
behavior than the experimental data. This discrepancy can be
attributed to the nature of F.E where multiple approximations b. Beam No. SS70
Fig. 4. Load-deflection comparisons between FE and experiments
and assumptions are made regarding the model dimensions,
meshing density, loading scheme, and material behavior.
 REFERENCES

[1] Smith, S.T. and Teng, J.G. (2002a). “FRP-strengthened

RC structures. I: Review of debonding strength models”,
Engineering Structures, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 385–395.
[2] Gao B, Leung C.K.Y, and Kim J.K. (2005). “Prediction
P of concrete cover separation failure for RC beams
strengthened with CFRP strips”. Engineering Structures
2005; 27(2):177–89.
[3] Yao J, and Teng J.G. (2007) “Plate end deponding in
Δ FRP-plated RC beams-I: Experiments”. Engineering
Structures 2007; 29(2):2457–2471.
[4] Jawdhari, A. R. (2016). "Behavior of RC beams
strengthened in flexure with spliced CFRP rod panels"
(2016). Theses and Dissertations-Civil Engineering,
University of Kentucky, USA. Paper 37.
c. Beam No. CS195 [5] ANSYSS (2011). Release 14.0 Documentation for
ANSYS. Version 14.0, ANSYS Inc., Canonsburg, PA,
USA.
[6] ACIII318-11, “Building Code Requirements for
Reinforced Concrete,” American Concrete Institute,
ISO# 193382007E.

d. Beam No. SS195

Fig. 4. (continued) Load-deflection comparisons between FE and
experiments

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, a 3D nonlinear finite element model was
used to evaluate the effectiveness of FE modeling in
simulating the behavior of RC beams strengthened with FRP
composites, which experience premature debonding failures.
Four beam specimens, strengthened with CFRP rod panels and
tested in four-point flexural setting, were extracted from the
literature and used as a bench mark to validate the FE results.
All four beams failed by concrete cover separation (CCS) at
one of the rod panel’s ends. A post processing analysis with
stress failure criterion is performed to identify the ultimate
failure load when CCS takes place. The failure criteria
depends on comparing the tensile stresses at the region near
the panel’s ends with the concrete tensile strength. The model
provided a good agreement with the experimental data in
terms of failure load prediction and overall load- deflection
behavior. The model was also able to predict the concrete
cover separation onset. High tensile stresses were observed in
the concrete near the curtailment of CFRP material.

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