C-Anchor for Strengthening the Connection between Adhesively Bonded Laminates and Concrete Substrates

A new carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) anchor is developed and tested to delay debonding in reinforced concrete (RC) beams externally strengthened with FRP laminate/sheet. The C-shape anchor is made from a commercially available CFRP grid. The anchors legs are 95 mm long while the spacing between the legs is adjustable, depending on FRP laminate and beam widths. Nine full scale RC beams, 3.0 m long, 250 mm wide and 400 mm deep, were strengthened with CFRP laminate/sheet, with and without the C-anchor. The main test parameters were the type and amount of FRP laminate and the presence/absence of the anchor. Test results showed that beams with the anchor had generally 5%–10% higher debonding and failure load, and they reached higher deflection at failure than the companion beams without anchors. Although complete separation of the FRP laminate from the concrete was not observed in any of the beams with anchors, there was noticeable slip at failure at one end of the laminate. A significant outcome of the study is that anchors are effective in limiting the extent of debonding along the laminate, thus contributing to the flexural stiffness of the beam by reducing the extent of cracking and limiting the crack width along the beam. Finally, the anchor allowed the FRP to reach or exceed its theoretically allowable strain computed based on the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 440 recommendation while in none of the beams without anchors, the FRP reached its theoretically allowable strain.