Elevated temperature deflection behavior of concrete members reinforced with FRP bars.

In recent years there has been an increased interest in the use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials in concrete members. However, the behavior of such members in fire is still relatively unknown. Since this is the main reason limiting the widespread use of FRP in buildings, the use of FRP in fire vulnerable structures needs additional study. In this article, a model is developed that incorporates the temperature dependent progressive changes of Elastic-modulus of FRP in predicting the deflection behavior of FRP reinforced concrete structures within the range of practical elevated temperatures. Predictions from the model correlate well with experimental results from the literature. The new approach provides an additional tool to evaluate the deflection of FRP reinforced concrete structures in fire. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]