| Title |
Flexural Behavior of RC Beams Strengthened with External Unbonded Composite Fiber Rope Tendons |
| Authors |
Park Soon-Kyu ; Lee Sang-Yun |
| Keywords |
fiber rope ; turnbuckle ; external unbonded ; strength capacity ; deformation capacity |
| Abstract |
This paper summarizes the results of the experimental study concerning the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by the external unbonded tendons of UHMWPE fiber braided ropes. The UHMWPE fiber rope is strong enough but too brittle and flexible to be used as strengthening tendon. In order to complement those drawbacks of the fiber ropes, the steel turn-buckle is developed and connected at the middle of the tendon. The steel turn-buckle is aimed to be used as a device to control pretension forces in the tendon and the failure mode of the beams as well. In the experiment the level of pretension forces and the strength capacity ratio between the rope and the turn-buckle are considered as major design variables. Six beams were tested to evaluate structural performance i.e., characteristics of failure modes, strength and ductility. According to the results, the maximum flexural moment capacity of the strengthened beams can be improved by 142%, and the deformation ductility of the beams can be improved to higher than 11. |