A Numerical Study of the Flexural Behavior of Concrete Beams Reinforced with AFRP Bars

Abstract

In this study, analytical and numerical investigations were extensively conducted to evaluate the flexural behavior of concrete beams reinforced with aramid fiber-reinforced polymer (AFRP) rebars. The AFRP-reinforced concrete beams were analyzed using the separated finite element method containing different elements for concrete and reinforcement. In addition, this study used two different effective moment of inertia expressions to estimate the load-deflection responses and the service-load deflections of the beams. The service-load deflections of the AFRP-reinforced concrete beams obtained from the finite element analysis were in close agreement with those from the effective moment of inertia expressions. The numerical ultimate moments also correlated well with the analytical values of concrete stress-strain models. Numerical analyses, which hardly predict the sudden reduction in the flexural rigidity of FRP-reinforced concrete beams due to the crushing of cover concrete, were shown to provide somewhat conservative deflection estimates.