Stress Analysis of Monolithic Circular Arches Strengthened with Composite Materials

This paper presents an analytical approach for the elastic stress analysis of monolithic circular arches strengthened with externally bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) strips. Emphasis is placed on the interfacial stresses between the existing structure and the supplemental reinforcement layers. Two analytical models are presented: The first model formulates the governing equations in terms of the displacements in the arch and the FRP strip and the tangential distribution of the shear stresses in the adhesive layer as unknowns without involving any assumptions on the stress and displacement fields in the adhesive layer. The second model uses the functional form of the displacement field derived in the first model yielding a formulation in terms of displacement unknowns only. Two numerical examples that examine the capabilities of the analytical approach are discussed. The first example focuses on the stress analysis of a strengthened arch under a localized load. The second example studies the elastic response of a partially strengthened arch to a symmetric load and a horizontal support settlement. The numerical study quantifies the interfacial shear and peeling stresses between the old and the new components underlining the stress concentrations. Finally, conclusions are presented and directions for future research on the application of the theory to masonry arches are outlined.