Shear strengthening of RC beam with external FRP bonding: a state of the art review

Developed primarily for the aerospace and defence industries, Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) has become a dominant construction material over the last few decades. FRP contains immense potential for use in civil infrastructure, both for the rehabilitation of existing structures and for the construction of new facilities. A significant amount of research has been carried out worldwide on FRP, which has established FRP as a technically and economically viable alternative to other conventional materials and strengthening techniques. Many existing reinforced concrete beams (RC) need shear strengthening due to various reasons such as increase in service load, structural aging, faulty constructions and mistake in design calculations. Previous studies have proved that application of external FRP is capable of increasing the shear capacity of strengthened RC beams with existing shear cracks. Even though, a number of studies have been carried out on the shear strengthening of RC beams with FRP, the shear behaviour of strengthened beams is not yet fully understood. This paper provides a comprehensive review on the shear strengthening of intact and shear damaged RC beam with external FRP bonding.