Applications of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Laminates in Strengthening of Structures

This paper presents the results of the investigation carried out through numerical simulation on the use of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) laminates for the strengthening of structural elements. For a structure to be sustainable, strengthening or upgrading a structure may be required because of several reasons including material deterioration and structural distress. Keeping in view the environmental and economic factors, re-construction of the structure seeking attention is not always possible or recommendable. This is because the demolition followed by re-construction will lead to the utilization of the resources besides contributing to construction and demolition waste. The use of FRP laminates for the strengthening of structures is emerging as an alternative to corrosive and bulky conventional strengthening techniques like steel plates. As the sustainability of a structure is of key importance, it is therefore very important to determine the behaviour of such emerging strengthening techniques under loading before their actual application. In the present study, the investigation has been carried out on determining the effectiveness of different types of FRP laminates by simulating the finite element models. It has been found that the use of FRP laminates enhances the performance of the strengthened structural elements by augmenting the load-carrying capacity.