Simulation of Crack Growth in FRP Reinforced Concrete

Experimental results show that the crack growth of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforced concrete flexural elements experience a crack development stage followed by crack stabilization. The crack length and elastic crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) increase during the crack development stage until reaching the crack stabilization stage. A finite-element representation was proposed to predict the initial CMOD. A debonded length was specified to account for the bond-slip between FRP bar and concrete. It was assumed that there was no tangential displacement between the reinforcement and concrete outside of the debonded length. A fatigue model was created using the Paris equation to simulate the growth of elastic CMOD. The model displayed good agreement with the test results. A size effect was also observed for the exponential parameter in the Paris equation.