Fatigue Performance of CFRP Strengthened RC Beams under Environmental Conditioning and Sustained Load

Abstract

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) have become increasingly important in recent years in bridge rehabilitation. Significant research has been done on the static behavior of CFRP-strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) structures; however, the fatigue behavior of such structures with interface defects subjected to harsh environmental conditions still needs to be investigated. Hence, an experimental program has been carried out to investigate the fatigue behavior, under a load range, which generates service load stress levels, of RC beams strengthened with CFRP fabrics. The effect of aggressive environments was studied by subjecting the test members to freeze–thaw, extreme temperature, ultraviolet light exposure, and relative humidity cycles. All beams survived 2 million fatigue cycles without showing significant bond degradation between composite and substrate. However, significant flexural stiffness degradation was observed in the conditioned specimens. The presence of defects also affected specimen stiffness; however, limited growth in defect size was observed due to fatigue cycling.