Beam Bond Tests of GFRP and Steel Reinforcement to Concrete

The paper presents research program of bond between glass fiber reinforced polymer bars and concrete in reference to the steel bars. Bond between the reinforcement and concrete is a crucial parameter governing a behaviour of reinforced concrete members and transferring of the internal forces from concrete to the reinforcement. The use of FRP bars as an equivalent reinforcement to steel in concrete structures has increased in recent years. The FRP bars are very different from steel, mainly due to much lower elasticity modulus and their anisotropic structure. Good performance of FRP reinforced concrete requires sufficient interfacial bond between bars and concrete. However, there are no specific standards referring to the surface preparation of these bars, that leads to variable bond behaviour of the composite reinforcement to the concrete. The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of variable parameters on the bond behaviour to concrete. The experimental program consisted of eighteen beam bond specimens varying in: bar diameter (12mm, 16mm, 18mm) and type of reinforcement (GFRP sand – coated and steel bars). Although the GFRP bars indicated good bond behaviour to concrete, the average bond strength was slightly lower than that of steel reinforcement of 16mm and 18 mm, while it was higher for the GFRP bars of 12mm diameter.