The strengthening performance of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) in concrete structures primarily depends on the CFRP–concrete interfacial bond behavior. For CFRP-strengthened circular reinforced concrete (RC) pipe piles in marine environments, the interfacial bond behavior is susceptible to hygrothermal conditions. In this study, cylindrical concrete specimens were designed and subjected to pull-off tests to evaluate the CFRP–concrete interfacial performance under simulated marine environmental attacks (3 days in a 50 °C salt spray followed by 4 days of seawater immersion). The deterioration mechanism and failure modes of the CFRP–concrete bond behavior in such environments were analyzed, and relationship equations describing the interfacial bond degradation were proposed and validated. Test results indicated that the CFRP–concrete bond strength at circular interfaces is approximately 21% lower than that at planar interfaces. Under hygrothermal marine conditions, the average CFRP–concrete bond strength remained relatively stable in the early stages due to the competing effects of epoxy plasticization and post-curing, while variability increased significantly in later stages. For test specimens in Group A without concrete surface grinding before CFRP wrapping, an initial bond strength of 1.5 MPa was exhibited, while, for test specimens in Group B, with surface grinding, the initial bond strength started at 2.0 MPa. Both groups experienced a significant CFRP–concrete bond strength reduction of 0.4 MPa after the first wet–dry cycle, with the subsequent average strength stabilizing near initial values. Notably, Group B achieved a peak strength of 3.88 MPa at 84 days, attributed to surface grinding, which enhanced bond strength by 33% and delayed bond failure. The overall stable average strength resulted from averaging high-strength and degraded points. A bond degradation model based on averaged strength reduction was proposed: demonstrating a strength loss of 27%–36% after 98 days of accelerated marine environmental exposure. The proposed equations describing the interfacial bond degradation on a circular concrete surface predict well the flexural capacity of CFRP-wrapped RC beams under similar environmental conditions, where the calculated flexural capacity is 0.8 times the experimental value, confirming the model’s conservative and safe design applicability.
Zhang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.