Short and long-term bond performance of prestressed FRP sheet anchorages

This paper discusses experimental results of the short and long-term behavior of the anchorage zones of externally bonded prestressed fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets. An experimental program was conducted to investigate seven beams bonded with prestressed FRP sheets including anchored or unanchored FRP sheet ends. Using different layers of FRP sheet, the prestress level of FRP sheets varied from 20% to 40% of the guaranteed tensile strength. The experimental observation was conducted in an outdoor environment and lasted about twenty months when temperatures were in the 7–30 ^°C range. This study provides significant data on the development of the effective bonding lengths, as well as the initiation and propagation of debonding along the FRP-concrete interface due to creep effect of the adhesive layer. Although adhesive creep leads to debonding propagation at higher shear stress, this creep is favored at low shear stress because it increases the effective bond length which improves the bond capacity of FRP-concrete interface and prevents premature failure of the anchorages. The effective bonding length was found to increase to 50% due to creep of the adhesive layer. The anchored end of the FRP sheets using steel plates and anchor bolts is an effective solution to enhance the bond capacity of FRP-concrete interface for short and long-term loading.