IC Debonding of FRP NSM and EB Retrofitted Concrete: Plate and Cover Interaction Tests

Abstract

The use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) externally bonded (EB) plates is widely accepted as an efficient and unobtrusive retrofitting technique. FRP near-surface mounted plates are now also gradually gaining acceptance due to their substantial increase in debonding strains over EB plates. However tests have shown that the intermediate crack (IC) debonding resistances of FRP plates can be reduced by their interaction with adjacent parallel plates and with parallel free surfaces, that is the cover; this is often reflected in design rules where the IC debonding resistance of individual plates depends on the width of the plate as a proportion of the width of the concrete specimen and on the cover. In this paper, 22 new pull tests are reported that study the IC debonding interaction with adjacent plates and cover. The results are encouraging as they show that there is little reduction in the IC debonding resistance until the lateral cover or gap between plates is relatively small.