Nigerian Journal of Technology (NIJOTECH)

Vol. 36, No. 2, April 2017, pp. 380 – 385

Copyright© Faculty of Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka,
Print ISSN: 0331-8443, Electronic ISSN: 2467-8821
[Link]
[Link]

EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION OF OPTIMUM RESISTANCE MOMENT OF CONCRETE

SLABS REINFORCED WITH CARBON FIBRE-REINFORCED PLASTIC

E. E. Okoro1,*, A. U. Nwafor2 and O. S. Abejide3

1DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, WAZIRI UMARU FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC, BIRNIN KEBBI, KEBBI STATE. NIGERIA.
2DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC, OKO, ANAMBRA STATE. NIGERIA.

3DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, KADUNA STATE. NIGERIA.
E-mail addresses: 1 emmadinma90@[Link] 2 listentony@[Link], 3 abejideos@[Link]

ABSTRACT
Fibre-Reinforced Plastics (FRPs) have been suggested as suitable reinforcement for concrete structures among other
solutions to combat corrosion problems in steel reinforced concrete. This paper presents the experimental validation of
optimum resistance moment of concrete slabs reinforced with Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP). Eight specimens
of two-way spanning slabs reinforced with CFRP bars were used in the experiment. They were designed to achieve two
classical failure modes: rupture of the reinforcements (tension failure) and crushing of the concrete while the
reinforcement remains elastic (compression failure). This was accomplished by using reinforcement ratios less, and more
than the balanced reinforcement ratio, , for the slabs, respectively. All the slabs failed as predicted. The results
obtained show that the design formulations for predicting the minimum flexural resistance of an CFRP-reinforced
concrete member provided by CSAS806-02(R07) have been underestimated. The design formulations were found to
underestimate the resistance moment capacity of CFRP-reinforced concrete slabs by about 33%.

Keywords: optimum resistance moment, concrete slabs, CFRP, design formulation.

1. INTRODUCTION inhibited its use in the construction industry, despite its

One of the major concerns about steel as reinforcement numerous advantages. Inspite of all these inhibitions,
for concrete structures is its susceptibility to corrosion in FRP-reinforcement in concrete structures are gaining
a wet and harsh environment. Aggressive environments wide acceptance as an effective substitute for steel
are not concrete-friendly because in an aggressive reinforcement, especially for the cases in which
environment concrete may be open to chemical attacks, aggressive environment produces high steel corrosion,
which break down the alkaline barrier in the cement or lightweight is an important design factor, or
matrix. This exposes the steel reinforcement in the transportation cost increase substantially with the
concrete structures to corrosion, resulting in a loss of weight of the materials.
strength for the steel and structural capacity of the Pultrusion, braiding, and filament winding are three
reinforced member. For this and many other reasons, common processes of manufacturing FRP [3]. Pultrusion
Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bars are considered as is one of the most popular and common methods for
an alternative to steel for concrete reinforcement. producing linear composite elements with the primary
However, the apparent high cost of FRP in comparison reinforcing fibres in the longitudinal direction. It is a
with steel and other conventional materials, has been a continuous filament moulding process incorporating
disapproving restraint [1]. Aside the cost concerns, the fibre reinforcement with thermosetting resin matrices
most significant technical obstacle stopping the extended [4]. Continuous strands of reinforcing material are drawn
use of FRP materials is lack of long-term and durability from spools of fibres, through a resin tank, where they
performance information comparable to the information are saturated with resin, and then through a number of
available for traditional construction materials [2].Most wiper rings into the mouth of a heated die. This process
of the information available on composites is not related simultaneously forms and heat-cures the FRP into
to civil engineering applications. Also, the absence of reinforcing rods [3]. The speed of pulling through the die
reliable design methods to determine the ultimate is predetermined by the curing time needed. To ensure
strength of structural elements reinforced with FRP has

*Corresponding author, tel: +234 – 806 – 526 - 3603

VALIDATION OF OPTIMUM RESISTANCE MOMENT OF CONCRETE SLABS REINFORCED WITH CFRP, E. E. Okoro, A. U. Nwafor & O. S. Abejide

good and strong bond with concrete, the surface of the From [5], k is given as:
bars is usually interwoven, spiral wound or sand-coated.
Lightly reinforced sections may fail immediately after ( )
cracking if the flexural strength or resistance moment of where:
the reinforced element is less than the cracking moment ( )
for the member [5]. This type of failure occurs suddenly
and without warning, and must be avoided. For this √[ ]( )
reason, [6] provides for minimum flexural resistance by
is the maximum optimum design variable, k is a
requiring the resistance moment of an FRP-reinforced
function of is the maximum optimum value
concrete member, Mr, to be at least 50% greater than the
of k. Equation (7) implies that the value of can be
cracking moment, Mcr. However, [7] opined that this
value could be stepped up to about 33% to get the determined at every choice of concrete and CFRP
optimum resistance moment. They stated that the strength in a reinforced concrete slab section. For
resistance moment capacity of FRP-reinforced concrete instance, if
slabs has been underestimated by about 33% in the Consequently,
design formulations by the code. This paper presents the (5) becomes:
experimental validation of the optimum resistance
moment of concrete slabs reinforced with Carbon Fibre- Therefore, . It was observed that this same
Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) proposed by [7]. value is not obtained for other CFRP-singly reinforced
sections with various combinations of CFRP and concrete
2. MINIMUM FLEXURAL RESISTANCE OF FRP- strengths. The value of modulus of rupture, fr, of concrete
REINFORCED RECTANGULAR CONCRETE SECTIONS seems very conservative compared to steel reinforced
The moment of resistance of a beam or slab section is the concrete. For a higher value of modulus of rupture of
moment of the couple which is set up at the section by concrete, fr which is √ ecomes 5.00354.
the longitudinal forces created in the beam or slab by its Taking ratio of for √ √ , gives a value
deflection. The minimum resistance moment of FRP- of 1.3333333333 for various combinations of CFRP and
reinforced concrete sections is given by [6] as: concrete strengths [9]. This is shown in Table 1.

The cracking moment (Mcr) is determined from the 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
modulus of rupture of the concrete, fr the moment of 3.1 Materials
inertia of the transformed uncracked section, Ira and the Two sizes of CFRP reinforcement bars, 8mm and 3mm
distance from the centroidal axis of the transformed diameters, produced by Mitsubishi Chemical Company,
uncracked section to the extreme tension fibre, yr, using Japan, were used in the test programme. The diameters
[5]: of the bars were measured as 7.98mm and 2.87mm for
the 8 and 3mm diameters respectively. The measured
diame e s and he manu ac u e s’ gua an eed ensile
In (2), √ is the modulus of rupture of concrete, strengths of for 8mm and
is the cracking moment, is the Moment of inertia of 3mm bars respectively, were used in the design
transformed uncracked section and is the Distance calculations. Normal concrete of compressive
from the centroidal axis of transformed uncracked strength was used. This was ascertained by laboratory
section to the extreme tension fibre. tests.
However, [6] and [8] permit the use of the gross moment
of inertia, instead of to compute 3.2 Specimens
The general ultimate moment for a singly FRP reinforced Eight specimens of two-way spanning slabs reinforced
concrete section is given by [6]as Equation (1) above, with CFRP bars were used in the experiment. They were
which is equivalent to: designed to achieve two classical failure modes: rupture
of the reinforcements (tension failure) and crushing of
This equation is proposed by [5] to be represented as: the concrete while the reinforcement remains elastic
(compression failure). This was accomplished by using
where, is an underestimation factor observed in the reinforcement ratios less, and more than the balanced
cracking moment of concrete, and reinforcement ratio, , for the slabs, respectively.
Table 2 gives the details of test specimens.
Therefore,

Nigerian Journal of Technology Vol. 36, No. 2, April 2017 381

VALIDATION OF OPTIMUM RESISTANCE MOMENT OF CONCRETE SLABS REINFORCED WITH CFRP, E. E. Okoro, A. U. Nwafor & O. S. Abejide

Table 1: Underestimation for various CFRP-singly reinforced concrete sections

Strength Strength for for %
Ratio Objective
of of Under
S/N √ 0.8√ Function
CFRP Conc estima
(1) (2) Y
N/mm2 N/mm2 tion
20 0.49981 4.00299 5.96749 4.47548 1.333 33.33 0.5941
25 0.44705 5.00354 6.67139 5.00354 1.333 33.33 0.5312
30 0.40811 6.00396 7.30779 5.48084 1.333 33.33 0.4849
1431 35 0.37785 7.00423 7.89288 5.91966 1.333 33.33 0.4488
1
40 0.35345 8.00434 8.43731 6.32798 1.333 33.33 0.4198
50 0.31014 10.3961 9.80159 7.35119 1.333 33.33 0.3682
60 0.28312 12.4749 10.7367 8.05257 1.333 33.33 0.3360
20 0.49875 4.02008 1.49819 1.12365 1.333 33.33 0.5920
25 0.44610 5.02499 1.67499 1.25625 1.333 33.33 0.5393
30 0.40724 6.02975 1.83479 1.37610 1.333 33.33 0.4924
35 0.37703 7.03474 1.98181 1.48636 1.333 33.33 0.4861
40 0.35269 8.03922 2.11852 1.58889 1.333 33.33 0.4261
2 1970
50 0.31546 10.0487 2.36850 1.77638 1.333 33.33 0.3787
60 0.28799 12.0572 2.59430 1.94572 1.333 33.33 0.3478
20 0.49857 4.02006 5.99275 4.49456 1.333 33.33 0.59401
25 0.44609 5.02501 6.70001 5.02501 1.333 33.33 0.53130
30 0.40723 6.02992 7.33938 5.50539 1.333 33.33 0.48202
35 0.37702 7.03477 7.92729 5.94547 1.333 33.33 0.44849
40 0.35268 8.03956 8.47444 6.35583 1.333 33.33 0.41953
6 2255
50 0.31545 10.0489 9.47422 7.10566 1.333 33.33 0.37505
60 0.28798 12.0579 10.3778 7.78336 1.333 33.33 0.33190

3.3 Experimental Procedure

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the test setup.
The slab is a two-way spanning square slab supported
along four sides on a wooden frame. The slabs were
supported on four sides on a wooden frame mounted on
steel supports. A steel plate was placed on the slab to
ensure that applied load is uniformly distributed over
the slab surface. The slabs were loaded by manually
operated hydraulic machine and readings taken as
indicated by the dial gauge at failure of the slabs. Four of
the slabs were designed to fail by rupture of
reinforcement, which is tension failure. The other four
slabs were designed to fail by crushing of concrete, which
is compression failure.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the test setup
3.4 Design of Experimental Slabs
Table 2 shows the details of test specimens, while the ein cemen a i
properties of the materials used in the experiment are
Balanced reinforcement ratio,
shown in Table 3.
alanced ein cemen a i
3.3 Validation Procedure ( )
SLAB 1: (h = 150mm) for 8mm diameter CFRP bar
(Actual diameter = 7.98mm) where,
Spacing of rods, S = 150mm centres
Concrete cover, c =
ec i e de h ( )
material resistance reduction factor for
ea ein cemen
concrete [6]
material resistance factor for CFRP [6]

Nigerian Journal of Technology Vol. 36, No. 2, April 2017 382

VALIDATION OF OPTIMUM RESISTANCE MOMENT OF CONCRETE SLABS REINFORCED WITH CFRP, E. E. Okoro, A. U. Nwafor & O. S. Abejide

Spacing of rods, S = 150mm centres

Concrete cover, c = 20mm
( )( )( )
ec i e de h
Therefore failure will be by concrete ea ein cemen
crushing (Compression failure).
ein cemen a i
Stress in CFRP at ultimate limit state (ULS) Balanced reinforcement ratio,
alanced ein cemen a i
[[ ] ]
( )

Moment of Resistance ;
Therefore failure will be by concrete
( )
crushing (Compression failure).
Neutral axis Stress in CFRP at ultimate limit state (ULS)

( ) [[ ] ]
( )

Moment of Resistance: ( )

Neutral axis
where, is the moment of resistance given by the
( )
code, is the cracking moment of concrete,
is the optimized cracking moment of concrete ( )
and is the moment of resistance due to
experiment.

SLAB 2: (h = 100mm) for 8mm diameter CFRP bar

(Actual diameter = 7.98mm)

Table 2: Details of test specimens

Slab Area of
Bar Slab
Thickness bar Predicted mode of failure
Diameter mark
(h) (mm2)
Compression failure
150mm 7.98mm SH150-D8 333.427 0.00273 0.00159 Crushing of concrete
150mm 7.98mm SH150-D8 333.427 0.00273 0.00159 Crushing of concrete
Tension failure
150mm 2.87mm SH150-D3 43.133 0.00034 0.00215 Rupture of rebars
150mm 2.87mm SH150-D3 43.133 0.00034 0.00215 Rupture of rebars
Compression failure
100mm 7.98mm SH100-D8 333.427 0.00463 0.00159 Crushing of concrete
100mm 7.98mm SH100-D8 333.472 0.00463 0.00159 Crushing of concrete
Tension failure
100mm 2.87mm SH100-D3 43.133 0.00056 0.00213 Rupture of rebars
100mm 2.87mm SH100-D3 43.133 0.00056 0.00213 Rupture of rebars

Table 3: Properties of Materials Used

Diameter of Area of Tensile strength Ultimate of Elastic modulus
Compressive strength
CFRP bar CFRP bar of CFRP bar CFRP bar CFRP of bar
of concrete (N/mm2)
(mm) (mm2) (N/mm2) strain (N/mm2)
8 (7.98) 50.014 1970 0.0130 151538 25
3 (2.87) 6.47 1431 0.0119 120000 25

Nigerian Journal of Technology Vol. 36, No. 2, April 2017 383

VALIDATION OF OPTIMUM RESISTANCE MOMENT OF CONCRETE SLABS REINFORCED WITH CFRP, E. E. Okoro, A. U. Nwafor & O. S. Abejide

SLAB 3: (h = 150mm) for 3mm diameter CFRP bar ea ein cemen

(Actual diameter = 2.87mm)
Spacing of rods, S = 150mm centres ein cemen a i
Concrete cover, c = 20mm
ec i e de h ( ) Balanced reinforcement ratio,
alanced ein cemen a i

ea ein cemen ( )

ein cemen a i Therefore failure will be by CFRP rupture

(Tension failure).
Balanced reinforcement ratio,
alanced ein cemen a i Stress in CFRP at ultimate limit state (ULS)

( ) [[ ] ]

; Therefore failure will be by CFRP rupture

(Tension failure). Neutral axis
Stress in CFRP at ultimate limit state (ULS)

[[ ] ]

( )
Neutral axis

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

( ) The results of the failure modes are shown in Table 3.
From the Table, it is evident that four of the slabs failed
by crushing of concrete while the reinforcement
remained elastic, and four failed by rupture of the
reinforcement before concrete crushed. All the slabs
SLAB 4: (h = 100mm) for 3mm diameter CFRP bar failed as predicted.
(Actual diameter =2.87mm) The details of the failure moment of the tested CFRP
Spacing of rods, S = 150mm centres reinforced concrete slabs are presented in Table 4. It is
Concrete cover, c = 20mm clear from the results that the resistance moment is
affected by the depth of the section, aside reinforcement
ec i e de h ( ) ratio, which determines failure mode.

Table 4: Failure Moments of Specimens

Slab Mrcode Mrcrack Mrcrackopt Mexperiment
Failure Mode
Specimen (kNm/m) (kNm/m) (kNm/m) (kNm/m)
SH150-D8 49.29 11.167 14.852 57.000 Compression failure (Crushing)
SH150-D8 49.29 11.167 14.852 57.000 Compression failure (Crushing)
SH150-D3 21.12 12.122 16.122 53.200 Tension failure (Rupture)
SH150-D3 21.12 12.122 16.122 53.200 Tension failure (Rupture)
SH100-D8 18.58 3.890 5.174 34.200 Compression failure (Crushing)
SH100-D8 18.58 3.890 5.174 34.200 Compression failure (Crushing)
SH100-D3 9.78 4.462 5.934 34.200 Tension failure (Rupture)
SH100-D3 9.78 4.462 5.934 34.200 Tension failure (Rupture)

Nigerian Journal of Technology Vol. 36, No. 2, April 2017 384

VALIDATION OF OPTIMUM RESISTANCE MOMENT OF CONCRETE SLABS REINFORCED WITH CFRP, E. E. Okoro, A. U. Nwafor & O. S. Abejide

This is seen in the difference between the M r,code and experiment. The findings herein lead to the following
Mr,exp in the tension failure modes. This is expected since suggested equation to evaluate the resistance moment of
the reinforcement ruptures before the concrete crushes, FRP-reinforced rectangular concrete slabs:
proving that concrete has not reached its ultimate strain.
It is interesting to note that the ratios of Mr,crackopt to
Mr,code in the compression failure modes are 0.3013 for
150mm thick slab, and 0.2785 for 100mm thick slab,
6. REFERENCES
respectively; whereas the ratios of Mr,crack to Mr,code for
the same slabs are 0.2266 and 0.2094 respectively. [1] Micelli F and Nanni “Mechanical P e ies and
Taking the average of the two values, 0.3013 and 0.2785, Du a ili y F P ds” Centre for
Infrastructure Engineering Studies, University of
we have 0.2899, which is approximately 0.29. It is seen
Missouri-Rolla, 2001.
also that the ratio of Mr,crackpot to Mr,crackis 1.33 in both
slabs of thickness 150mm and 100mm. This means that [2] Micelli F and Nanni “Du a ili y F P ds
c nc e e s uc u es” Construction and Building
the value of resistance moment of the concrete could be
Materials, ELSEVIER, April, pp 491 –503. 2004.
raised by about 33%. This value agrees with the value
earlier obtained by [7]. Thus, the moment of resistance of [3] ISIS “ ein cing C nc e e S uc u es wi h Fi e
ein ced P lyme s” Canada Research Network,
a singly CFRP reinforced rectangular solid slab section
September, 2007.
may be expressed as:
[4] Renée, C. and Yunping, X., “The Behavior of Fiber-
Reinforced Polymer Reinforcement in Low
Tem e a u e n i nmen al Clima es” Report No.
5. CONCLUSION
CDOT-DTD-R-2003-4, Colorado Department of
This work has critically looked at the varying Transportation Research Branch, December, 2002.
complexities connected with the structural behaviour of
[5] ISIS “ n In duc i n F P- ein ced C nc e e”
CFRP singly-reinforced concrete slab sections, generally
Canada,[Link],2011.
in their design formulations. As in the design of steel-
reinforced concrete elements, the design requirements [6] CSA-S806-02(R07), “Design and C ns uc i n
for FRP-reinforced concrete elements are strength Building Components with Fibre- Reinforced
P lyme s” Canadian Standards Association,
requirements at the ultimate limit state and
Toronto, 2007.
serviceability requirements for cracking and deflection.
While the design of steel-reinforced elements is normally [7] ejide S and “Ma e ial C s
Optimization of Resistance Moment of Solid
governed by the strength or ultimate limit state, FRP-
Concrete Slabs Singly- ein ced wi h CF P”
reinforced concrete members are controlled by Proceeding of International Conference on
serviceability requirements, such as crack widths and Emerging Trends in Engineering and Technology,
deflections. Association of Computer Electronics and Electrical
The design formulations for predicting the minimum Engineers, pp 878-883. DOI: 03AETS 2013.3.6,
flexural resistance of an FRP-reinforced concrete 2013,
member provided by [6], has been optimized [8] CSA S6- “Canadian Highway idge Design C de”
deterministically. The design formulations were found to 2006.
underestimate the resistance moment capacity of FRP- [9] “ imum M men esis ance
reinforced concrete slabs by about 33% when Concrete Slabs Reinforced With Carbon Fibre-
considering the wholly rectangular stress block. This is ein ced Plas ic CF P ” Unpublished PhD Thesis
the percentage underestimation of the cracking moment submitted to Postgraduate School, Ahmadu Bello
of concrete and validated in the laboratory by University, Zaria, Nigeria, 2016.

Nigerian Journal of Technology Vol. 36, No. 2, April 2017 385