Mechanical Behavior and Durability of Components of FRP-Concrete Bonded Reinforcement Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) has a low weight-to-volume ratio, high stiffness-to-weight ratio, and flexibility. The use of externally bonded CFRP sheets has emerged as an economical and efficient solution for the structural strengthening of reinforced concrete structures. Various types of cracks (flexural, flexural shear, shear, and caused by a deteriorative environment) appear during the lifespan of structures, which can be prevented with the use of a CFRP composite. However, cracks in concrete can negatively affect the bonding effect of CFRP sheets, leading to the debonding of and, sometimes, the premature failure of the CFRP concrete interface; thus, hindering the excellent performance of CFRP sheets, being one of the major challenges in the strengthening of existing deteriorated concrete structures. The development of the experimental data collection method and the computational modeling method, such as the neural network analysis method or numerical method, promotes the theoretical understanding of externally bonded CFRP sheet reinforcement technology. This Special Issue aims to contribute to the fundamental understanding of bond behavior between CFRP sheets and cracked concrete and the reinforcing effect of CFRP sheets in prolonging the service life of reinforced concrete structures.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Theoretical modeling of CFRP and concrete interfaces;
• Computational modeling of CFRP and concrete interfaces;
• Fundamental and functional properties of CFRP and concrete interfaces;
• Reinforcement effect of CFRP sheets on cracked service concrete structures;
• End anchorage methods of CFRP sheets;
• Confinement model for FRP-confined concrete using artificial neural network techniques;
• Durability of FRP–concrete-bonded reinforcement systems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Yongzhi Gong
Prof. Dr. Yi Wang
Prof. Dr. Chaoyang Zhou
Guest Editors

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• CFRP
• cracked concrete
• bond behavior
• reinforcement effect
• artificial neural network
• numerical study
• computational modeling
• durability