Flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams with steel and GFRP reinforcement

Abstract The use of alternative reinforcement in concrete structures in the form of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) is a favorable option to the traditional reinforcement of steel. These bars possess unique features, including resistance to corrosion, an impressive tensile strength by weight ratio, and electromagnetic transparency, making them particularly appealing to the construction sector and structural engineers. The brittleness of GFRP bars significantly lowers the concrete beams’ ductility. Moreover, the significant deformations observed during the post-cracking phase is the effect of lower elastic modulus of these bars. The aim of this research study is to gain a deeper insight into the behaviour of structural members in flexure that are reinforced with GFRP bars. The failure modes were observed. The outcomes of load‒deflection performance are discussed. The fracture patterns observed in beams subjected to two point loading conditions have been documented for beams made of reinforced concrete that use both steel and GFRP as reinforcement. A finite element nonlinear analysis is performed using ABAQUS, to explore the exact response of specimens observed in experimental studies. A comparative study was performed between the experimental and numerical results.