Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) has recently become a mainstream technology for repair and strengthening of structures. However, for many years, the use of this FRP was relatively limited due the limited experience building officials and owners with of this technology. During these years, full scale load testing was utilized in numerous occasions to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technology and to bridge the gap between laboratory testing and full scale field installation. In-situ load testing using the Cyclic Load Test (CLT) method involves using hydraulic jacks to perform several cycles of loading and unloading that are used to obtain information on the strength and performance of a structure. Structural adequacy is then verified by examining the response of the structure to the applied loads.
Two case studies are presented in this paper that focuses on structural assessment of FRP strengthened members through load testing. In the first case study, load tests were used to confirm the performance of structural pan joist slab strengthened with externally bonded FRP in combination with a bonded concrete overlay. Load testing was also used to verify the performance floor joists strengthened for shear using FRP applied only to the sides of the joists. In the second case study, load tests were used to confirm the performance of composite structural floor system consisting of precast and cast-in-place structural elements. For all described cases, the full scale test confirmed the effectiveness of the externally bonded CFRP reinforcement and resulted in cost-effective strengthening solutions.
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