Flexural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beams Strengthened with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer under Hydrothermal Environment

To study the durability of concrete structure strengthened with CFRP(carbon fiber reinforced polymer) under hydrothermal environment, six concrete beams strengthened with CFRP under warm and moisture conditions were used for flexural behavior experiment; the failure mode, bearing capacity, deflection and crack were studied by the experiment. Based on differential equations of chemical reactions and exponential law of reaction rate for epoxy resin aging, the attenuation model of elastic modulus was given for epoxy resin under warm and moisture conditions. From the mechanical properties of concrete and epoxy resin, theoretical formula of CFRP peel strength was given for concrete beams strengthened with CFRP under hydrothermal environment, and the flexural capacity formula was also put forward. The results show that the flexural capacity of strengthened concrete beams decrease exposed to environmental conditions, and peeling failure of CFRP is gradually transferring from the interface region of concrete side to the interface region of CFRP side. As the environmental effect continues, the number of cracks and deflection reduce while the crack width increases, which show that both damage and brittleness of strengthened beam increases. The yield curvature, ultimate curvature and curvature ductility factor of the strengthened beam reduce, and it indicates that the ductility of the strengthened beam deteriorates, but the brittleness and dispersion of the CFRP peeling failure increase. The comparison between the experimental and theoretical analysis shows that the relative error of the theoretical and the experimental value is smaller than 20% for CFRP ultimate strain, and the relative error is smaller than 11% for flexural capacity.