Finite Element Modeling of Shear Deficient Beams Bonded with Aluminum Plates

This paper presents the development of a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element (FE) model to capture and predict the response of a shear deficient simply supported reinforced concrete (RC) beam strengthened externally with aluminum alloy plates. Two FE models were developed based on experimental tests conducted by the authors in a previous investigation. The models developed have exact geometry and boundary conditions to that of the experimental specimens. The predicted FE results for the load-midspan deflection are compared to the measured experimental data. Close agreement was found between the predicted and measured results at all stages of loading for both models developed.