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Structural Details

1. Pre-treatment shall be appropriately made on the surface of a beam to be


wrapped with Carbon fiber sheets.

2. Corners of cross section of beam shall be rounded with a corner radius of 20 mm
or larger. This rounded portion must be straight and un-curved along the beam
length.
3. The beam shall be securely and tightly wrapped with carbon fiber sheets. The
fiber direction shall be perpendicular to the beam axis.
4. Overlap of carbon fiber sheets shall be long enough to ensure the rupture in
materials. It shall be not less than the 200mm.
5. Carbon fiber sheet shall wrap closely around the column. Position of lap splice
shall be provided alternately.
6. Impregnate adhesive resin shall be the one which has appropriate properties in
construction and strength to bring the strength characteristics of carbon fiber
sheet.
7. After impregnation of adhesive resin has completed the initial hardening process,
mortar, boards or painting must be provided, for fire resistance, surface
protection or design point of view.

SURFACE PREPARATION
1. Surface preparation should be based on the type of applications: bond-critical
applications (e.g., design controlled by flexure, shear strengthening of structural
elements) or contact-critical applications (e.g., design controlled by confinement
of columns or special joints).
2. For bond-critical applications, the concrete surface should be free of loose
deposits on the concrete surface that could interfere with the bonding of the FRP.
3. Surface preparation can be accomplished using abrasive or water-blasting
techniques. After removing all foreign or loose deposits, bug holes (surface
voids) should be filled with putty and the concrete surface should be prepared to
a minimum profile of CSP-2 as defined by the International Concrete Repair
Institute (ICRI) surface profile chips. For example, localized out-of-plane
variations including form lines should not exceed 0.03 in. (0.76 mm) or the
tolerances recommended by the manufacturer. Such tight tolerances can be
achieved by grinding the surface prior to surface blasting. The following two
recommendations are made with respect to wrapping at re-entrant angles and
concrete elements requiring confinement. The re-entrant corners should be
profiled to a minimum of a 0.5 in. (1.25 mm) radius to minimize stress
concentrations in the FRP wraps and to also minimize voids between the wrap
and the concrete surface. Special detailing of FRP wraps around re-entrant
corners is essential to ensure a bond with the concrete substrate. All concrete
surfaces should be dry, as recommended by the wrap system manufacturer. The
moisture content level must be established to comply with ACI 503.3 and
reduced, if necessary, to enhance resin penetration into the concrete surface and
improve the mechanical interlocking of resin with concrete aggregates.
4. For concrete elements requiring confinement, uniform contact surfaces are
required to develop uniform bond resistance by the FRP wraps without
generating undesirable stress spikes. Large voids in the surface should be
patched in both bond- and contact-critical applications. Large voids or spalls in
the concrete substrate should be filled and properly bonded to substrate with
high compressive-strength material to enhance the confinement effects of a
concrete structural element.

APPLICATION OF CONSTITUENTS
1. Putty or bulk adhesive should be used to fill large voids and smooth surface
discontinuities as recommended by the FRP manufacturer. Primer should be
applied to all areas of the concrete surface to be covered with FRP wraps. Primer
and putty should be cured fully before applying the FRP wrap system. The two
types of commonly used composite wrap systems are the wet lay-up system with
hand or machine application and the pre-cured system.
2. Wet lay-up systems typically involve the hand-laying of dry fiber sheets or fabrics,
which are saturated with appropriate resins. FRP sheets or wraps can be
saturated using a resin-impregnating machine. The fiber wraps should be
pressed into the uncured resin as recommended by the FRP system
manufacturer. To remove any trapped air, the wet wrap system should be rolled
out exhaustively while the resin is still wet. When more than one layer of fiber
wrap is required, laying the additional layers of fibers/fabrics before the complete
cure of the previous layer of resin occurs is preferable to develop a good bond
between the successive layers. Pre-cured systems, such as FRP shells (Figure
5.1) or strips, are bonded to a clear concrete surface with an adhesive. The
surface should be prepared in accordance with the manufacturers
recommendations. Adhesive should be applied uniformly to the properly
prepared concrete surface before placing the pre-cured FRP systems. Any
trapped air between the concrete surface and the pre-cured system should be
rolled out before the adhesive is cured. Adhesive thickness should be maintained
as recommended by the FRP manufacturer. Excessive adhesive thickness may
not provide adequate interlaminar shear transfer capability and can even lead to
poor structural compositeness between the concrete substrate and the FRP
procured system.
3. Special coatings should be provided to protect the FRP systems from UV
degradation or excessive moisture ingress. Coatings should be compatible with
FRP systems to minimize surface blistering or micro-cracking. Temporary
protection, such as loose plastic sheathing around the FRP system, is essential
for a proper cure of the resins. Such protection would help minimize the direct
contact of the resin surface with rain, dust, sunlight, or even vandalism.
4. In wet lay-up systems, proper fiber/fabric alignment is critical. Even small
variations (up to 5) in fiber orientation from the design specifications can cause
substantial strength variations. Fabric kinks or waviness should be minimized to
avoid local stress concentration. Up to four plies of wraps can be used to
efficiently transfer the shearing load between plies [Kshirasagar et al. 1998]. All
resin systems should be cured according to the manufacturers
recommendations, and field modification of resin chemistry should not be
permitted [ACI 440.2R-02]. The bond strength between a properly prepared
concrete substrate and a FRP system is adequate to transfer interlaminar shear
through the cured resin [GangaRao et al. 2000].

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