Fiber-composites constructed of reinforced polymer have recently acquired popularity as an alternative to other traditional materials used in construction reinforcement. These composites are remarkable because of their low weight, high tensile strength compared to its weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and ease of installation in strengthening and retrofitting structural parts. In this work, using the ABAQUS analytical program’s finite element algorithm to analyze 279 models, the effects of multiple parameters on the behavior of RC beams externally bonded and retrofitted with one of three types of polymeric fibers were investigated. This was achieved by modeling a quarter of the complete beams using the beams’ symmetry, where the cohesive bond model of the FRP-concrete interface and the isotropic elastic characteristics of FRP were applied. Good agreement was found between experimental data and numerical results when the material models were adopted with experimental work. Investigations indicate that a typical collapse happens when the cohesive bond breaks, and that while increasing the shear or concrete strength improves the allowable loading capacity, but it does not completely prevent the debonding failure of the beam. U-wrap anchor applications at the end of external bonding are a partial solution to the problem of early collapse in the more rigid fibers, like carbon fiber polymers. The effect of using U-wrap anchors to reduce early collapse varies depending on the stiffness of the fiber; it is effective in the least rigid fibers, like glass fiber-reinforced polymers, but less effective by increasing the stiffness of the fibers, like aramid fiber-reinforced polymers. Furthermore, increasing the U-wrap anchor width is more effective in eliminating the debonding than increasing its height. Copyright © 2025 Techno-Press, Ltd.
Sümer et al. (Wed,) studied this question.