Bond–slip on CFRP/GFRP-to-concrete joints subjected to moisture, salt fog and temperature cycles

Research on bond between composite and concrete on beams externally reinforced with fiber reinforced polymers (ERBs) has generated many publications, but uncertainties remain. The issue of the long term behavior of those joints, especially the effect that severe and prolonged environmental actions may induce, justifies the search for additional data and recommendations to avoid premature debonding and failures. The present paper devotes attention to the effects of environmental aging on the constitutive bond-slip curves. Aging was imposed on an accelerated manner and several actions used to degrade the behavior of the joints evaluated by mechanical testing. Prismatic blocks of reinforced concrete linked on the upper side by a stainless steel hinge and externally bonded by a continuous strip of carbon or glass fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP or GFRP) adherent to the soffit were made so as to fit in commercially available laboratory climatic chambers. After aging, they were tested till failure under four point loading. Aging conditions imposed on the CFRP beams were (i) cycles of high-low relative humidity, (ii) salt fog cycles, and, on the GFRP beams, (iii) salt fog cycles, (iv) dry/wet cycles (water with 5.0% weight of NaCl), (v) total immersion in salt water, and (vi) freeze/thaw cycles. The results of the experimental program enabled the proposal of bond-slip laws that take into account the aging of the beams. They also showed that salt fog cycles were more severe in the case of CFRP, while freeze/thaw cycles were more degrading on bond of GFRP-to-concrete. The salt water effects on the GFRP beams appeared to be beneficial, most likely by improving the tensile strength of concrete. Numerical modeling certified by the obtained experimental data is presented that allows more general estimates of the environmental effects.