Graduation Semester and Year

Spring 2025

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil Engineering

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Vistasp M. Karbhari

Second Advisor

Dr. Md Nazmus Sakib

Third Advisor

Dr. Raad Azzawi

Abstract

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites provide an extremely effective means of rehabilitating deteriorating and understrength concrete elements due to their characteristics of high specific strength and stiffness, corrosion resistance, and potential long-term durability, lightweight nature, and ease of placement in the field. Despite significant use of these materials, there is still a lack of long-term durability data. With this in mind, the current study investigates the impact of environmental exposure and aging on 3 commercially available prefabricated carbon fiber reinforced composite strips and their recommended adhesives used in externally bonded rehabilitation with the aim of providing a comprehensive set of data and prediction equations, as well as enabling the evaluation of current bond stress-slip models in light of changes in material characteristics over time. The study assesses experimental durability data through exposure to a range of conditions including immersion in water at 23°C (73°F), 37.8°C (100°F), and 60°C (140°F) to simulate accelerated aging, as well as immersion in saltwater and alkaline solution at 23°C. Using the Arrhenius equation, the material degradation was extrapolated to predict long-term properties up to 100 years. The study uses this data to evaluate existing bond-stress slip models, comparing those that consider only FRP properties against those incorporating adhesive properties. Results indicate that models neglecting adhesive properties exhibit higher load transfer during the initial stages but reduced load-bearing capacity over time. In contrast, models that include adhesive properties show an unrealistic increase in load transfer over time, suggesting inaccuracies in their assumptions. The findings suggest that existing models provide erroneous results when adhesive properties are included, indicating the need to develop better models that incorporate effects of changes in materials characteristics over time.

Keywords

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP), adhesive, durability, rehabilitation, long-term degradation

Disciplines

Civil Engineering | Structural Engineering

License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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