Performance in Fire of Small-Scale CFRP Strengthened Concrete Beams

When strengthening concrete members with fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) materials the strengthening is, typically, undertaken to carry live load. This live load is assumed to remove itself from the strengthened member in the event of a fire. Thus, the fire performance of the FRP is not important. However, if the strengthening system was designed such that the FRP took some of the dead load, then the performance in fire would become important. In this series of tests, 24 reinforced concrete beams were cast. They were divided into eight sets of three. The sets were split into fire tested and control. In the control group were an unstrengthened control set, a set strengthened with bonded carbon FRP (CFRP) plates, and a set with bonded CFRP plates with bolted anchorages. In the fire-tested group were an unstrengthened control set, a set strengthened with bonded CFRP plates, a set with bonded CFRP plates with bolted anchorages, a set strengthened with bonded CFRP plates and a cementitous fire protection system...