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Construction
and Building

Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567

MATERIALS
www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Behavior and capacity of RC beams strengthened in shear

with NSM FRP reinforcement
Andrea Rizzo, Laura De Lorenzis *

Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Available online 24 October 2007

Abstract

A recent and promising method for shear strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) members is the use of near-surface mounted
(NSM) fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement. In the NSM method, the reinforcement is embedded in grooves cut onto the sur-
face of the member to be strengthened and filled with an appropriate binding agent such as epoxy paste or cement grout. Only a few
studies have been conducted to date on the use of NSM FRP reinforcement for shear strengthening of RC beams. These studies identified
some critical failure modes related to debonding between the NSM reinforcement and the concrete substrate. However, more tests need
to be conducted to identify all possible failure modes of strengthened beams. Moreover, virtually no test results are available on the
behavior of shear-strengthened beams containing steel shear reinforcement, and on the effect of variables such as the type of epoxy used
as groove filler. This paper illustrates a research program on shear strengthening of RC beams with NSM reinforcement, aimed at gain-
ing more test results to fill the gaps in knowledge mentioned above. A number of beams were tested to analyze the influence on the struc-
tural behavior and failure mode of selected test parameters, i.e. type of NSM reinforcement (round bars and strips), spacing and
inclination of the NSM reinforcement, and mechanical properties of the groove-filling epoxy. One beam strengthened in shear with exter-
nally bonded FRP laminates was also tested for comparison purposes. All beams had a limited amount of internal steel shear reinforce-
ment to simulate a real strengthening situation. Test results are presented and discussed in the paper.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Debonding failures; FRP; Near-surface mounted reinforcement; RC beams; Shear strengthening

1. Introduction A more recent and less investigated method for shear

One of the major applications of fiber-reinforced poly-
mer (FRP) composites for strengthening of reinforced con-
crete (RC) members is their use as additional web
reinforcement to increase the shear capacity of the mem-
bers. Over the last few years, shear strengthening with
externally bonded FRP laminates has become a well estab-
lished technique upon extensive experimental verification
and with the development of analytical models reflected
in the relevant code provisions. A state-of-the-art review
of existing research on this topic can be found in Teng
et al. [16].
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0832 297241; fax: +39 0832 297279.
E-mail address: laura.delorenzis@unile.it (L. De Lorenzis).
strengthening of RC members is the use of near-surface
mounted (NSM) FRP reinforcement, usually in the form
of round bars or of rectangular bars with large width to
thickness ratio (herein briefly indicated as strips). In the
NSM method, the reinforcement is embedded in grooves
cut onto the surface of the member to be strengthened
and filled with an appropriate binding agent such as epoxy
paste or cement grout. A review of available research on
NSM strengthening of RC structures is reported in De
Lorenzis and Teng [9]. For shear strengthening with
NSM reinforcement, the grooves are cut on the sides of
the member at a desired angle to the beam axis.
Only three studies appear to have been published to date
on the use of NSM FRP reinforcement for shear strength-
ening of RC beams. De Lorenzis and Nanni [7] carried out
eight tests on large size T-beams, of which six had no inter-

0950-0618/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2007.08.014
1556 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567
nal stirrups. Carbon FRP (CFRP) ribbed round bars in
epoxy-filled grooves were used as NSM shear reinforce-
ment. The test variables included bar spacing and inclina-
tion angle, and anchorage of the bars in the flange. The
NSM reinforcement produced a shear strength increase
which was as high as 106% in the absence of steel stirrups,
and still significant in presence of a limited amount of inter-
nal shear reinforcement. Barros and Dias [3] tested beams
of different sizes with no internal stirrups. Some of these
beams were strengthened with NSM CFRP strips of differ-
ent inclinations, while the rest were strengthened with
equivalent amounts of externally bonded FRP shear rein-
forcement. The reported strength increases ranged from
22% to 77%, and were in all cases larger than those
obtained with externally bonded FRP. Although the failure
modes were not described, based on the reported load–
deflection curves, at least some of the beams are believed
to have failed in flexure. Nanni et al. [13] reported the test
results of a single full-scale PC girder taken from a bridge
and shear-strengthened with NSM CFRP strips. The beam
failed in flexure at a shear force close to the shear resistance
predicted by the model given in De Lorenzis and Nanni [7].
Two different failure modes were identified in De
Lorenzis and Nanni [7] for beams strengthened in shear
with NSM bars. The first was debonding of the FRP bars
by splitting of the epoxy cover and cracking of the sur-
rounding concrete, associated with the diagonal tension
failure of concrete. This failure mode was prevented by
providing better anchorage of the NSM bars crossing
the critical shear crack, by either anchoring the bars in
the beam flange or the use of inclined (e.g. 45) bars at
a sufficiently close spacing to achieve a longer total bond
length. Once this mechanism was prevented, separation of
the concrete cover of the steel longitudinal reinforcement
became the controlling failure mode. This second mode,
however, may be attributed to the fact that no or very
limited steel stirrups were present in these beams. The
dowel forces due to shear, not restrained by stirrups, give
rise to tensile stresses in the surrounding concrete. These,
in combination with the wedging action of the bar defor-
mations, produce splitting cracks along the longitudinal
reinforcement which eventually lead to failure of the
beam. This mode is unlikely in beams with a more realis-
tic amount of steel stirrups. The most important failure
mode is thus debonding of the FRP reinforcement.
Although it has not been observed so far, tensile rupture
of the NSM reinforcement is another possible failure
mode.
The debonding failure mode identified by De Lorenzis
and Nanni [7] in shear-strengthened beams is similar to
the bond failure mode of the same NSM bars in bond spec-
imens [8]. This observation has an important consequence
on modelling of debonding failures of shear-strengthened
RC beams. If confirmed, it indicates that local bond-slip
relationships developed from bond tests can be directly
used in predicting debonding failures of RC beams shear-
strengthened with NSM FRP bars. The truss model usually
adopted for computation of the shear capacity of RC
beams can be easily generalized to compute the capacity
of shear-strengthened beams controlled by debonding, by
incorporating an appropriate bond–slip curve. This
approach, but with a simple ideally plastic bond–slip curve
for the NSM reinforcement, was used by De Lorenzis and
Nanni [7]. Similarly, local bond-slip relationships obtained
from bond tests can also be directly used in the numerical
modelling of debonding failures [15].
As evident from the above summary, the information
available on behavior and capacity of RC beams strength-
ened in shear with NSM FRP reinforcement is still very
limited. More tests need to be conducted to further clarify
the failure modes of strengthened beams. In particular, it is
important to evaluate the correspondence between bond
failures of NSM reinforcement in bond tests and debond-
ing failures of shear-strengthened beams, in order to verify
the applicability of local bond-slip models from bond tests
in predicting debonding failures of shear-strengthened
beams. Moreover, virtually no test results are available
on the behavior of shear-strengthened beams containing
steel shear reinforcement, despite this is the most common
situation in practice.
This paper illustrates a research program on shear
strengthening of RC beams with NSM reinforcement,
aimed at gaining more test results to fill the gaps in knowl-
edge mentioned above. A number of beams were tested to
analyze the influence on the structural behavior and failure
mode of selected test parameters, i.e. type of NSM rein-
forcement (round bars and strips), spacing and inclination
of the NSM reinforcement, and mechanical properties of
the groove-filling epoxy. One beam strengthened in shear
with externally bonded FRP laminates was also tested for
comparison purposes. All beams had a limited amount of
internal steel shear reinforcement to simulate a real
strengthening situation. Test results are presented and dis-
cussed in the paper.
2. Test program
The test program consisted of a total of nine, 2.0 m long
RC beams with a rectangular 200-mm · 210-mm cross-sec-
tion (Fig. 1). All beams had internal steel flexural and shear
reinforcement, designed to ensure that unstrengthened and
shear-strengthened beams would all fail in shear. The steel
tension and compression reinforcement consisted respec-
tively of four and two steel deformed bars with 22-mm
nominal diameter. The steel shear reinforcement consisted
of closed double-legged stirrups. One half of each beam
starting from midspan (side A in Fig. 1) was taken as the
‘‘test side’’, while the other half (side B in Fig. 1) was
designed as the ‘‘strong side’’. Only the test side was
strengthened in shear with FRP systems and appropriately
instrumented with strain gages to monitor the strain distri-
bution in the internal steel stirrups and in the shear
strengthening system, as detailed later. The amount of steel
shear reinforcement in the two sides was designed to ensure
 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567
Side A (Test Side)
4 Stirrups Ø6
@ 160 mm o.c. A P/2
A B
80 80 519
200 800
(a) Longitudinal view (dimensions in mm)
Section A -A
18 18
14
2 Ø22 173
210
4 Ø22
20
200 Closed Stirrups
Ø6 @ 160 mm o.c.
(b) Cross sections (dimensions in mm)
Fig. 1. Geometrical details of the RC beams.
that shear failure would occur in the test side. As a result,
side A had stirrups with 6-mm nominal diameter spaced at
160 mm o.c. (section A–A in Fig. 1), and side B had stir-
rups with 10-mm nominal diameter spaced at 50 mm o.c.
(section B in Fig. 1). The thickness of the concrete cover
to the stirrups is shown in Fig. 1.
One beam was unstrengthened, to serve as the control
beam. The other eight beams were all strengthened in shear
with FRP systems within the test side. The test variables
were
 type of FRP strengthening system. As the main focus of
this investigation is on shear strengthening with the
NSM method, seven beams out of eight were strength-
ened with NSM reinforcement. For a comparative eval-
uation of the NSM and externally bonded techniques,
one beam was strengthened with one ply of externally
bonded laminate, using the U-wrap configuration. This
configuration has been shown to be more effective than
side bonding, and is also more practical than complete
wrapping in beam applications [1];
 type of NSM reinforcement, i.e. round bars and strips.
Previous investigations on flexural strengthening of
RC beams with NSM reinforcement have indicated a
better performance of NSM strips compared with
NSM round bars of equivalent cross-sectional area,
due to a better bond behavior of NSM strips and hence
to a delayed occurrence of debonding failures in beams
strengthened with NSM strips [10]. Equivalent data on
shear strengthening is not available yet;
1557
Side B (Strong Side)
562 14 Stirrups Ø10
P/2 @ 50 mm o.c.
CL B
210
25 25
1000
2000
Section B -B
14 14
10
2 Ø22 173
210
4 Ø22
16
200 Closed Stirrups
Ø10 @ 50 mm o.c.
 type of groove-filling epoxy. Two commercially avail-
able epoxies were selected for their significantly different
values of tensile strength and modulus of elasticity. The
current knowledge indicates these two properties of the
groove filler as the main ones affecting the bond behav-
ior [9]. Bond tests on NSM reinforcement embedded
with these two types of epoxy had shown a significant
influence of the type of epoxy on the bond behavior
and capacity [6], hence it was of interest to verify
whether this different bond behavior would correspond
to a different behavior and capacity of shear-strength-
ened beams;
 inclination of the NSM reinforcement with respect to
the axis of the beam. Two different inclinations were
selected, namely 90 (vertical reinforcement) and 45;
 spacing of the NSM reinforcement. For each inclination
of NSM reinforcement, two different spacings were
selected, namely: 45 mm and 73 mm for vertical rein-
forcement, and 73 mm and 146 mm for 45 reinforce-
ment. All these spacings are measured along the beam
axis.
Table 1 illustrates the test program. The beam codes
used for the strengthened beams are characterized by two
initial letters indicating the type of FRP strengthening sys-
tem (UW for externally bonded U-wrap, NB for NSM
round bars, and NS for NSM strips), followed by two dig-
its indicating the angle of inclination of the fibers of the
FRP reinforcement (90 or 45). For the beams strengthened
with NSM reinforcement, the code continues with two dig-
1558 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567
Table 1
Test program
Beam Strengthening system Type of groove- Angle of the CFRP fibers
filling epoxy to the beam axis, a ()
C None (control beam) – –
UW90 Externally bonded – 90
CFRP laminate
NB90-73-a NSM CFRP round a 90
NB90-73-b bars b 90
NB90-45-b b 90
NB45-146-a a 45
NB45-73-a a 45
NS90-73-a NSM CFRP strips a 90
NS45-146-a a 45
its indicating the spacing of the reinforcement measured
along the beam axis in mm, and finally with a letter indicat-
ing the type of groove-filling epoxy (a or b). For example
beam NB45-73-a is strengthened with NSM round bars,
inclined at 45 to the beam axis, at a spacing of 73 mm
measured along the beam axis, having grooves filled with
type-a epoxy.
In the beam to be strengthened with externally bonded
FRP laminate in the U-wrap pattern, the bottom corners
of the beam in the region where the laminate had to be
bonded were first rounded up to a radius of curvature of
at least 20 mm. The side and bottom surfaces of the beam
in the region to be strengthened were roughened by
mechanical abrasion, cleaned with pressurized air and
primed, in preparation for bonding of the FRP laminate.
The laminate U-jacket was then formed by the wet lay-
up technique and the system was left for curing at room
temperature for at least two weeks before testing.
In the beams to be strengthened with NSM reinforce-
ment, preparation began by saw-cutting the grooves to
the desired width, depth, inclination and spacing onto the
two side covers of the beam over the full depth. For embed-
ment of NSM round bars, the grooves had square cross-
section with a nominal size of 12 mm, corresponding to
one and half the actual diameter of the bar. The actual
groove dimensions measured after saw-cutting varied
between 13 and 15 mm in both width and depth. For
embedment of the NSM strips, the grooves had rectangular
cross-section with nominal 5-mm width and 18-mm depth,
to allow at least 1.5-mm side clearance between strip and
groove surfaces. Inclination and spacing of the grooves
varied according to the test program, as specified in Table
1. Pressurized air was used to remove debris and dust to
ensure proper bonding between the epoxy adhesive and
the concrete. Each groove was then partially filled with
the epoxy adhesive, and the FRP reinforcement was subse-
quently inserted and lightly pressed to displace the adhesive
and to force it to fill the space between the reinforcement
and the sides of the groove. The groove was then filled with
more adhesive and the surface was leveled by removing the
excess adhesive. Finally, the system was left for curing at
room temperature for at least three weeks before testing,
Spacing of the strengthening system
measured along the beam axis, sf (mm)
–
0 (continuous strengthening)
73
73
45
146
73
73
146
to ensure that the groove-filling epoxy had reached its full
mechanical properties.
The beams were simply supported at the ends and tested
under four-point bending with a net span of 1.6 m and a
shear span of 519 mm, resulting in a shear span to effective
depth ratio a/d = 3 (Fig. 1). Due to this a/d ratio, the
beams can be classified as slender and the arching effect
can be considered of limited influence on their shear behav-
ior and capacity.
A total of six LVDTs were deployed to measure the mid-
span deflections on both sides of the beam, the quarter-
span deflections of sides A and B on one lateral side of
the beam, and the settlements of the two supports on one
lateral side of the beam. Strain gauges were attached at
critical positions on the steel shear reinforcement prior to
casting of the beams, on the NSM FRP reinforcement
prior to its installation, and on the externally bonded
FRP laminate prior to testing. The beams were tested in
displacement-control mode using a 500-kN hydraulic actu-
ator with a cross-head displacement rate of 1.2 to 1.5 mm/
min. Load, displacements and strains were all recorded by
an electronic data acquisition system with a 1-Hz sampling
rate. At regular load intervals during each test, the applied
load was kept constant for a few minutes to allow a
detailed monitoring of position, length and opening of
the shear cracks.
3. Material properties
Prior to testing of the beams, material characterization
was carried out on concrete, steel reinforcements, CFRP
round bars and strips, and groove-filling epoxies.
The concrete had an average compressive strength of
29.3 MPa (with a coefficient of variation [COV] of 13.5%)
determined on seven standard (150-mm diameter · 300-
mm length) concrete cylinders. The average splitting tensile
strength determined on six standard cylinders was equal to
2.0 MPa (COV 14.6%).
Six standard specimens were tested for each type of steel
reinforcement. The steel rebars with 22-mm diameter used
as flexural tension and compression reinforcement had a
yield strength of 544.5 MPa (COV 2.2%) and a modulus
 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567 1559

of elasticity of 211.3 GPa (COV 5.7%). From these two val-
ues, the strain at yielding can be calculated as 0.26%. The
steel rebars with 6-mm diameter used as stirrups within
the test side of the beams had a yield strength of
665.3 MPa (COV 6.3%) and a modulus of elasticity of
251.5 GPa (COV 18.1%). From these two values, the strain
at yielding can be calculated as 0.26%.
The material properties for the FRP round bars and
strips to be used as NSM reinforcement were determined
according to the ACI 440.3R-04 guidelines [2]. The round
CFRP bars used in this study are manufactured through
the pultrusion process and are made of high strength con-
tinuous carbon fibers embedded into a vynilester matrix,
with a 55% nominal fiber content. For improvement of
the bond properties, the surface of the bars is spirally
wound with a carbon fiber tow and sand coated
(Fig. 2a). The nominal diameter is 7.5 mm while the
actual diameter, taken as the average of several sample
measurements along the bar axis, resulted equal to
8.0 mm. Based on the average of three test results, the
tensile strength and the modulus of elasticity of the bars
resulted equal to 2214 MPa (COV 0.1%) and 145.7 GPa
(COV 5.7%), respectively. These values yield an ultimate
tensile strain of 1.52%. The CFRP strips used in this
study are manufactured through pultrusion and are made
of carbon fibers with 4823 MPa tensile strength and
227 GPa elastic modulus embedded into a bisphenol
epoxy vinyl ester matrix. The nominal fiber content is
60% by volume. The strips have a 2 · 16 mm rectangular
cross section and a surface roughened with peel-ply sur-
face treatment. Based on the average of three test results,
the modulus of elasticity resulted equal to 121.5 GPa
(COV 2.5%). The manufacturer’s value of the tensile
strength is 2068 MPa. These values yield an ultimate ten-
sile strain of 1.70%.
Two types of epoxy paste were used for embedment of
the NSM reinforcement. Both are two component, 100%
solid, non-sag, tixotropic epoxy adhesive pastes obtained
by mixing resin and hardener in a 3:1 weight ratio. The
two types differ by the values of tensile strength and modu-
lus of elasticity, and will be conventionally labeled as type-a
and type-b epoxy. The tensile properties of the two epoxies
were determined according to ASTM D638. Based on the
average of seven and five test results, the direct tensile
strength and secant tensile elastic modulus of type-a epoxy
resulted equal to 18.6 MPa (COV 11.8%) and 4.15 GPa
(COV 5.0%), respectively. Based on the average of six and
five test results, the direct tensile strength and secant tensile
elastic modulus of type-b epoxy resulted equal to 22.8 MPa
(COV 6.0%) and 12.87 GPa (COV 11.5%), respectively.
Finally, the CFRP laminate used as externally bonded
reinforcement is a high strength unidirectional sheet with
0.165 mm nominal fiber thickness, impregnated in situ with
epoxy resin by the wet layup technique. The manufac-
turer’s values of tensile strength and elastic modulus are
equal to 3430 MPa and 230 GPa, respectively, yielding an
ultimate tensile strain of 1.49%.
4. Test results
The main test results are reported in Table 2 and are
illustrated as follows. In the table, the last column reports
for each beam the FRP contribution to the shear capacity,
VFRP, computed as the difference between the ultimate
shear force of the shear-strengthened beam and that of
the control beam.

Fig. 2. CFRP round bars and strips used as NSM reinforcement.

Table 2
Test results
Beam Ultimate load Ultimate shear Increase in ultimate shear force Increase in ultimate shear VFRP
(kN) force (kN) over the control beam (%) force over beam UW90 (%) (kN)
C 244.3 122.2 – – –
UW90 283.0 141.5 15.8 – 19.3
NB90-73-a 352.8 176.4 44.4 24.7 54.2
NB90-73-b 297.1 148.6 21.6 5.0 26.4
NB90-45-b 301.5 150.8 23.4 6.5 28.6
NB45-146-a 322.6 161.3 32.1 14.0 39.1
NB45-73-a 300.3 150.2 22.9 6.1 28.0
NS90-73-a 345.3 172.7 41.3 22.0 50.5
NS45-146-a 309.7 154.9 26.8 9.4 32.7
1560 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567

Fig. 3. Shear cracking progression and failure mode of the control beam.

Fig. 4. Shear crack pattern and failure mode of beam UW90.

4.1. Cracking progression and failure modes
During loading of the control beam, diagonal shear
cracks initiated almost simultaneously at the center of both
shear spans, at about mid-height of the beam, at a load of
about 115 kN. As the load increased, the first shear crack
propagated and more shear cracks formed within the shear
span of the test side, at an angle variable between 21 and
36 to the beam axis (Fig. 3). These cracks widened and
propagated until failure resulted at a load of 244.3 kN.
Beam UW90 failed by debonding of the CFRP laminate
(Fig. 4) at a load of 283.0 kN. During loading of this beam,
the evolution of the shear cracking pattern in the test side
could not be monitored due to the presence of the external
wrapping, but the final pattern was detected after failure by
completely removing the laminate. The angle of the shear
cracks to the beam axis was close to 30 (Fig. 4a).
All the beams strengthened with NSM reinforcement,
except for beams NB90-45-b and NB45-73-a, showed a
similar evolution of the cracking pattern and the same fail-
ure mechanism. The first diagonal shear crack appeared in
the shear span of the test side, at about mid-heigth of the
beam, at a load variable between 123.0 and 135.0 kN
(Fig. 5). This load is close to the load at first shear cracking
in the control beam, as this load level is mainly influenced
by the tensile strength of concrete. As the applied load
increased, this first shear crack propagated until reaching
the edges of the adjacent epoxy-filled grooves on both sides
of the crack. The following evolution of the cracking pat-
tern differed between beams with vertical and inclined
NSM reinforcement.
In the beams with vertical NSM reinforcement, more
shear cracks became gradually visible on the concrete sur-
faces between adjacent epoxy-filled grooves. These cracks
normally started at the bottom of the beam as flexural
cracks, and propagated until the top of the adjacent
epoxy-filled groove without crossing the epoxy, as approx-
imately illustrated in Fig. 5a. In these beams, close to fail-
ure, a final crack became visible close to the point of
application of the load. This crack started vertically
(approximately) at the bottom of the beam as a flexural
crack, then continued diagonally at mid-height of the beam
in the middle between the two NSM bars (strips) closest to
the point of application of the load, and finally propagated
vertically until the upper edge of the closest NSM bar
(strip) (Figs. 5a and 6a). One similar vertical crack running
along the height of the beam also formed close to the sup-
port of the test side. On the bottom and on the top surfaces
of the beam, two cracks were also running parallel to the
beam edges at a distance from the side surfaces approxi-
 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567 1561

(a) Beam NB90-73-a (b) Beam NB45-73-a

(c) Beam NB45-146-a (d) Beam NB90-45-b

Fig. 5. Typical cracking patterns for the beams strengthened in shear with NSM reinforcement.

mately equal to the cover of the internal steel stirrups shear reinforcement separated from the core of the beam.
(Fig. 6b). These cracks, along with the two vertical cracks It is important to note that, at failure, the NSM reinforce-
mentioned above, originated the final failure pattern, in ment appeared still well bonded to the concrete side covers
which the two side concrete covers of the internal steel that had separated from the beam core.

Fig. 6. Typical failure mode for beam strengthened in shear with NSM bars.
1562 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567

Also in the beams with inclined NSM reinforcement, (a) 400

more shear cracks became visible on the concrete surfaces Spalling of the side
350 concrete covers
between adjacent epoxy-filled grooves as the applied load
increased. However, these cracks started at about mid- 300 Splitting of the cover of the

Applied load (kN)

height of the beam as diagonal cracks and propagated longitudinal steel rebars
250
maintaining a diagonal direction until the edges of the
adjacent epoxy-filled grooves (Fig. 5c). Close to failure, 200
a vertical crack running along the beam height formed Debonding of
150 the U-wrap C
close to the support of the test side, and horizontal cracks UW90
formed in the vicinity of the point of application of the 100 First Flexural NB90-73-a
Cracking NS90-73-a
load on top of the beam due to local crushing of the con- NB45-146-a
50
crete. In beam NS45-146-a, horizontal cracks also formed NS45-146-a
at the bottom of the beam close to the support, due to 0
spalling of the bottom concrete cover of the steel longitu- 0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0 17.5
dinal reinforcement. Also in these beams, failure occurred Mid-span deflection (mm)
by separation of the side concrete covers of the steel 400
(b)
stirrups. Spalling of the side
Two exceptions to the cracking progressions outlined 350 concrete covers
above were beams NB90-45-b and NB45-73-a, which were 300
Splitting of the cover of the
characterized by the closest spacings of the NSM reinforce-
Applied load (kN)
longitudinal steel rebars
ment. In these beams, virtually no shear cracks were visible 250

on the side surfaces of the beam in the shear span of the test 200
side, due to the close spacing of the FRP reinforcement Debonding of
150 the U-wrap
(Figs. 5b,d, and 6c). Close to failure, vertical cracks formed
in the vicinity of the point of application of the load and at C
100 First Flexural UW90
the support, and propagated along the height of the beam Cracking NB90-73-b
50 NB90-45-b
maintaining a nearly vertical direction, until failure NB45-73-a
resulted by separation of the side concrete covers of the 0
internal steel stirrups, as previously explained for the other 0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0 17.5
beams strengthened with NSM reinforcement. After fail- Mid-span deflection (mm)
ure, the inner core of the beam was inspected by completely Fig. 7. Load-mid-span–deflection curves.
removing the side concrete covers. As expected, diagonal
shear cracks were visible (Fig. 6d), indicating that the
absence of diagonal cracking was only apparent. This After the peak load, the load–displacement curves
absence of cracks on the side surfaces was due to the dense show a descending branch which stabilizes at a nearly
location of epoxy-filled grooves and hence to a larger resis- constant value of applied load for large displacements.
tance opposed by the side concrete covers to being crossed This last part of the load–deflection curve (after which
by the internal diagonal cracks than in the other beams the tests were stopped and the beams were unloaded) is
with less dense NSM reinforcement. virtually coincident for all the beams, and the value of
load attained at the end of this stage is slightly lower than
4.2. Displacements and strains the capacity of the control beam. Such a behavior could
be observed because the beams were loaded in displace-
In Fig. 7, the load–deflection curves of the beams are ment-control mode with a low cross-head displacement
reported. The deflection is taken as the average of the read- rate, hence shear failure was not abrupt and the beams
ings of the two LVDTs on both lateral sides of the beam at continued to deflect as the failure crack pattern was wid-
mid-span. As expected, the stiffness of the beams is not sig- ening and propagating. At an advanced post-failure stage,
nificantly affected by the shear strengthening applied. The horizontal cracks formed at the level of the steel longitu-
only exceptions are beams NB90-45-b and NB45-73-a dinal reinforcement due to its dowel action, as indicated
(Fig. 7b), characterized by the smallest spacings of the in Fig. 7.
NSM reinforcement, which show a stiffness slightly lower Fig. 8 illustrates examples of the load–strain curves
than that of the control beam. In these beams, the dense obtained from the strain gages attached to the steel stir-
shear reinforcement created a significant difference in stiff- rups at various locations. In both the unstrengthened
ness between the core of the beam and the two side covers, and the strengthened beams, the steel stirrups started to
which probably induced the early formation of internal develop strains only after the appearance of the first
micro- and macro-cracks between these portions of the shear cracks in the concrete. Note that the load at first
beam. This might explain the reduction in stiffness since shear cracking was rather close for the control and the
early stages of loading. strengthened beams, as mentioned in the previous section.
 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567
C UW90
400 NB90-73-b NS90-73-a
NS45-146-a NB90-45-b
350
NB45-146-a NB45-73-a
300
Applied load (kN)
250
200
Strain Gauge
P/2
150 80 160
C
L 150
100
50 800
281
Dimensions in mm
0 0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000
Strain (με)
(a) Strains in the second stirrup after the support
Fig. 8. Strains in the internal steel shear reinforcement.
For the control beam, all stirrups started developing
strains at an applied load of about 100 kN, which com-
pares well with the value of 115 kN at which the first
shear crack was detected on the beam. For the strength-
ened beams, the second and the third stirrups started
developing strains at an applied load of about 120–
135 kN, corresponding to the first shear cracking load.
These two stirrups were the closest to the location of
the first shear cracks, i.e. to the middle of the shear span.
Once the first shear cracks had formed, the strain in the
stirrups increased with load at a significantly faster rate in
the control beam than in the strengthened beams, as in
the latter beams part of the shear was resisted by the
FRP reinforcement.
In the first stirrup after the support, the load at which
the first strains were developed was close to the first shear
cracking load for the control beam, but was significantly
larger than this load for the strengthened beams. In these
beams, the propagation of the first shear crack from the
middle of the shear span towards the support was
restrained by the presence of the NSM reinforcement
(Fig. 5), and hence the stirrup close to the support was pre-
vented from developing significant strains until large load
levels.
The magnitude of the measured strains is heavily influ-
enced by the position of the strain gages relative to that
of the shear cracks. For instance, of the strains reported
in Fig. 8, the maximum strains measured at the top of
the second stirrup after the support are larger than those
measured at the bottom of the first stirrup after the sup-
port. In Fig. 8a, the stirrup strain at peak load is very close
to the yielding strain of steel, which indicates that the stir-
rups gave a full contribution to the shear capacity of the
beam also in presence of the FRP shear strengthening.
It may be noted that the strains of stirrups in beams
NB90-45-b and NB45-73-a, in which virtually no shear
cracks were visible on the lateral surfaces of the test side,
are similar to those of the other strengthened beams. This
1563
400
C
350 UW90
NS90-73-a
300
NB45-146-a
Applied load (kN)
250 NB90-45-b
200
Strain Gauge
80 160
P/2 C
L
100
50 281
800
Dimensions in mm
10000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Strain (με)
(b) Strains in the first stirrup after the support
is a useful information as it indicates that the shear cracks
formed in the core of these beams at about the same load
and with the same rate of propagation than in the other
beams. Note that the post-failure inspection of the core
of these beams could only confirm the presence of the shear
cracks at failure but could obviously give no indication on
the load level at which they had appeared.
Finally, Fig. 9 illustrates the load–strain curves of the
externally bonded and NSM FRP reinforcement at various
locations. FRP strains become significant at load levels lar-
ger that the load at first shear cracking, when both the
internal steel stirrups and the external shear strengthening
systems are activated. Also in this case, the position of
the strain gages relative to that of the shear cracks is heav-
ily influential on the magnitude of the strains, and hence
the measured strains are not necessarily maximum values.
Unlike strains in the steel stirrups, strains in NSM FRP
reinforcement do not always increase as the applied load
increases. In most beams, at least at some locations, there
are intervals of applied load at which the NSM FRP strains
remain constant or decrease while the applied load is
increasing. This can be attributed to the loss of bond
between the NSM reinforcement and the concrete beam.
In principle, it is impossible to identify from the strain
readings alone which of several possible phenomena is
responsible for such loss. In the case of the NSM reinforce-
ment, this loss of composite action could be due to debond-
ing at the CFRP–epoxy or the epoxy–concrete interface, or
to formation of debonding cracks in the concrete. Based on
the observations during the tests, it can be concluded that
this loss of bond was due to the formation of cracks grad-
ually separating the side concrete covers of the steel stir-
rups from the beam core. The fact that, even in the
presence of strain decreases in the NSM reinforcement,
the applied load could still significantly increase, indicates
a pseudo-ductile nature of the debonding phenomenon.
This pseudo-ductility is likely to be associated to the aggre-
gate interlock present at the micro- or macro-cracked inter-
1564 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567

400
400
350 SG4
350

300 SG1 300

SG3

Applied load (kN)

SG 2 SG1
Applied load (kN)

250 250
SG3
200 SG2
200

150 150
SG4
100 100 SG3

50 SG1 SG2 SG 3 50 SG1 SG2

0 0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Strain (με) Strain (με)
(a) Beam UW90 (b) Beam NS90-73-a
400 400

350 SG3 350 SG4 SG3

SG5
300 300 SG1
Applied load (kN)

SG2
SG1 Applied load (kN)
250 250

200 SG3 200

SG2 SG4
150 150 SG3

100 100 SG2

SG1
50 50 SG1 SG5
SG2
0 0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 500 0
Strain (με) Strain (με)
(c) Beam NB45-146-a (d) Beam NS45-146-a
400 400

350 350
SG3
SG5
300 300
SG2
Applied load (kN)
Applied load (kN)

250 250
SG2 SG1
200 SG3 200
SG4
SG5 SG5
150 SG1 SG2 150
SG2
100 SG3 100
SG1 SG4
SG4 SG1
50 SG5 50
SG3 SG4
0 0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Strain (με) Strain (με)
(e) Beam NB90-45-b (f) Beam NB45-73-a
Fig. 9. Strains in the NSM FRP reinforcement.

faces, and to the consequent cohesive stresses carried to the control beam. In particular, the beam strengthened
across such interfaces. with externally bonded U-wrapped laminate was about
16% stronger than the control beam, and those strength-
5. Discussion ened with NSM reinforcement had increases in capacity
between 22% and 44% over the control beam. This confirms
As reported in Table 2, the shear-strengthened beams that externally bonded and NSM FRP can be effectively
experienced significant increases in capacity with respect used for strengthening of RC beams deficient in shear.
 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567
The area of CFRP used in beams UW90, NS90-73 and
NB90-73 was equal to 330, 877 and 1211 mm2/m, respec-
tively, i.e. in beams NS90-73 and NB90-73 it was 2.7 and
3.7 times larger than in beam UW90. The tensile capacity
per unit length of the strengthening systems in the same
beams was equal to 1132, 1813 and 2681 kN/m, respec-
tively, i.e. in beams NS90-73 and NB90-73 it was 1.6 and
2.4 times larger than in beam UW90. These two ratios
are lower than the first ones, due to the higher tensile
strength of the FRP laminates compared to round bars
and strips. If the FRP contributions to the shear capacity,
VFRP, are compared, those of beams NS90-73 and NB90-
73 are 2.6 and 2.8 times larger than that of beam UW90.
The fact that these two ratios are larger than the previous
ones indicates a greater efficiency in use of the FRP tensile
strength when NSM reinforcement is used. This results
from early debonding of the externally bonded FRP, which
prevents the high tensile strength of the laminate from
being efficiently exploited.
For beams strengthened in shear with externally bonded
FRP laminates, several design formulae and predictive
models exist for computation of the FRP contribution to
shear capacity. The computed VFRP for beam UW90
according to North-American [1] and European [11] design
guidelines, and to the model by Chen ans Teng [5], is
respectively equal to 42.5, 28.8 and 39.2 kN, i.e. always lar-
ger than the measured value of 19.3 kN. The main reason
for the discrepancy is likely the fact that the beam had
internal shear reinforcement, which has already been
shown to lead to unconservative predictions by the avail-
able formulae [14,4].
The effect of the type of groove-filling epoxy can be
observed by comparing the capacity of beams NB90-73-
a and b. Beam NB90-73-a, whose grooves were filled with
type-a epoxy having lower elastic modulus and tensile
strength, failed at a significantly higher load, and its
FRP contribution to the shear capacity was more than
twice that of beam NB90-73-b. Research on bond behav-
ior of NSM reinforcement [6] has shown that using a
groove-filling epoxy with lower modulus of elasticity
and tensile strength results in a more compliant, weaker
and more ductile bond-slip behavior. In a strengthened
beam, a more compliant local bond-slip behavior implies
that the load acting on each bar at the location of the
shear crack is transferred by bond shear stresses to a
longer length of bar. This gives rise to lower bond shear
stresses for a given load, which delays the initiation and
propagation of the debonding cracks. In the strengthened
beams, the debonding cracks form in the concrete and
hence the smaller bond strength of NSM systems with
type-a epoxy does not accelerate failure as the debonding
failure mode is different than in the bond tests [6] (see fur-
ther discussion below).
The effect of the cross-sectional shape of the NSM
reinforcement (round bars vs. narrow strips) can be exam-
ined comparing test results of beams NB90-73-a and
NB45-146-a, having NSM round bars, with those of
1565
beams NS90-73-a and NS45-146-a, having NSM strips.
Due to the particular failure mode, the difference in shear
capacity is very limited. The two beams with NSM strips
have slightly lower ultimate loads than those with NSM
round bars. This could be explained by the local bond-slip
behaviour of NSM strips being slightly stiffer than that of
NSM round bars. As mentioned above, a stiffer local
bond-slip behaviour generates higher bond shear stresses
transferred to a shorter portion of the strip, and this
may accelerate debonding. Also in this case, the debond-
ing cracks form in the concrete and hence the larger bond
strength of NSM strips compared to round bars, docu-
mented in previous bond experiments [9], does not delay
failure as the debonding failure mode is different than in
the bond tests. Comparing beams NB90-73-a and NS90-
73-a it can also be observed that the tensile capacity per
unit length of the strengthening system is 1.48 times larger
in the first beam, while VFRP is only 1.07 times larger.
This indicates that, from the standpoint of the efficiency
in use of the FRP tensile strength, NSM strips are prefer-
able. In the test series reported herein, this is a natural
consequence of the failure mode. As long as failure
always occurs in the concrete, the efficiency in use of
the FRP is higher when the amount of FRP materials
adopted is lower.
Beams NB90-73-b and NB90-45-b, NB45-146-a and
NB45-73-a differed by the spacing of the NSM reinforce-
ment. Due to the particular failure mode, decreasing the
spacing of the reinforcement did not result in a higher shear
capacity but could even result detrimental. As the spacing
decreased, the interaction between the bond actions of
adjacent NSM bars became more significant and this
resulted in an earlier formation of the debonding failure
pattern.
A similar consideration can be made by comparing test
results of beams NB90-73-a and NB45-73-a, which differed
by the angle of inclination of the bars to the beam axis. As
this angle changed from 90 to 45, the shear capacity
decreased. This can again be explained by the particular
failure mode. For a given spacing of the NSM bars mea-
sured along the beam axis, the spacing between the bars
in their orthogonal direction decreases as their angle of
inclination increases. This strengthens the interaction
between the bond stresses around adjacent bars and hence
accelerates the formation of the debonding failure pattern.
The failure mode obtained in this study for the beams
strengthened in shear with NSM reinforcement is very dif-
ferent from those reported in previous investigations [7]. It
appears that the failure mode observed in this investigation
is influenced by two main effects:
– the spacing of the bars. It is reasonable to expect that
NSM bars located at a large spacing tend to debond
from the concrete substrate independently from each
other, as observed in De Lorenzis and Nanni [7]. When
the bars are at a close spacing, the bond stresses between
adjacent bars and the concrete substrate tend to mutu-
1566 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567
ally interact. The formation of a debonding failure pat-
tern involving more bars at the same time becomes
increasingly probable as it requires a lower load than
the formation of a separate debonding failure pattern
for each single bar;
– the presence of internal shear reinforcement. The verti-
cal legs of the steel stirrups create two vertical planes
of weakness which facilitate the detachment of the side
concrete covers.
Based on results of this investigation, the question
raised in the introduction on whether there is correspon-
dence of debonding failure modes between bond speci-
mens and shear-strengthened beams should be answered
negatively. For the failure mode observed in the present
investigation, bond-slip models determined on bond spec-
imens cannot be directly used to predict the ultimate load
of shear-strengthened beams, which greatly complicates
the modeling task.
A possible modeling approach is a detailed three-dimen-
sional numerical modeling, accounting for the bond behav-
ior of the NSM reinforcement and for the non-linear
behavior of all materials. This approach is computationally
onerous. Analytical modeling able to obtain predictions
with a reasonable degree of accuracy for design purposes
is a viable option. To this end, the observations made
and the test data gathered in this experimental study will
be very useful for the development of a model addressing
the observed mode of failure. Given that diagonal shear
cracks form always in the beam core even though they
are not always visible on the beam lateral surfaces, the
stresses in the bars can still be modeled assuming the pres-
ence of such cracks. The debonding load should be calcu-
lated accounting for the interaction between different bars
in the formation of the debonding failure pattern, which
invalidates the assumption (usually made in previous mod-
els, e.g. [7,5,15]) of each bar being in the same situation of a
single bar in a simple pull-out test. Note, however, that the
previous models based on the bond-slip approach remain
valid when debonding failure in shear of the NSM-
strengthened beam is controlled by separate debonding of
each NSM bar with the same mechanisms observed in
bond tests.
For design purposes, a key issue to be addressed is
whether the contributions of steel stirrups and NSM rein-
forcement to the shear capacity can be safely considered
additive. When failure occurs by separate debonding of
each NSM bar, an analytical model to account for possible
interaction between these two shear contributions within
the bond-slip approach has been proposed by Mohamed
ali et al. [12] and further developed in Rizzo and De Loren-
zis [15]. It was shown that, when NSM reinforcement is
used, the two shear contributions are generally closer to
being additive than when using externally bonded lami-
nates. This is due to the larger bond fracture energy of
NSM reinforcement, which delays debonding and hence
promotes a more efficient use of the strengthening system.
However, this approach is no longer applicable when
failure occurs by detachment of the side concrete covers
such as in the present investigation. Although the present
test results indicate that the steel stirrups had yielded prior
to failure of the beam, the available data are not sufficient
to draw general conclusions. The interaction between steel
and FRP shear contributions should be accounted for
while attempting to model the failure mechanism observed
in the present study.
6. Conclusions
Based on results of the present investigation, the follow-
ing main conclusions can be drawn:
– FRP systems and, in particular, NSM FRP reinforce-
ment can significantly enhance the shear capacity of
RC beams also in presence of a limited amount of steel
shear reinforcement. In this test program, the increase in
shear capacity was about 16% for the beam strengthened
with externally bonded U-wrapped laminate, and ran-
ged between 22% and 44% for the beams strengthened
with NSM reinforcement. The use of NSM reinforce-
ment was more efficient in terms of exploitation of the
FRP tensile strength due to early debonding of the
externally bonded laminate;
– for the beams strengthened with NSM reinforcement,
the failure mode was in all cases separation of the side
concrete covers of the internal steel stirrups;
– the use of a stiffer and stronger groove-filling epoxy and,
although to a lesser extent, the use of NSM strips
instead of round bars, resulted in a lower FRP contribu-
tion to the shear capacity. In both cases, the stiffer bond-
slip behavior of the joints induced larger peak bond
stresses and accelerated the initiation of debonding
cracks in the concrete;
– due to the particular failure mode, decreasing the spac-
ing or increasing the inclination of the bars did not ben-
efit the shear capacity of the beam. In both cases, the
reduced distance between the bars accelerated the for-
mation of a debonding failure pattern involving all the
bars together.
Further experimental and theoretical research is needed
to identify and deeply understand all the possible failure
mechanisms of beams strengthened in shear with NSM
reinforcement and to develop rational and accurate pre-
dictive models accounting for all these possible
mechanisms.
Acknowledgments
This investigation was supported by the RELUIS pro-
ject. Degussa Construction Chemicals Italia S.p.A. and
Sika Italia donated the materials used in this investigation,
which is gratefully acknowledged.
 A. Rizzo, L. De Lorenzis / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 1555–1567
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