With the aim of characterising a commercially available epoxy adhesive used for fibre-reinforced polymers strengthening applications, when submitted to different environmental conditions, mainly thermal (TC), freeze-thaw (FT), and wet-dry (WD) cycles and immersion in pure (PW) and water with chlorides (CW) for periods of exposure that lasted up to 16 months, an experimental program was carried out. Several methodologies were used in its characterization, mainly the scanning electron microscope (SEM), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), standard tensile tests (STT) coupled with digital image correlation (DIC). In general the results revealed that the chemical composition was not affected by the environmental conditions. Nevertheless, it was verified through DMA and STT that the modulus of elasticity and tensile strength of the epoxy adhesive increased in the TC, while the specimens submitted to PW and CW faced a high degradation in terms of its mechanical properties. Eventually, the glass transition temperature (Tg) was not affected by the environmental conditions, apart from the specimens subjected to TC and FT, presenting a higher and lower Tg, respectively, when compared with the reference specimens.

Keywords:Fatigue Bond and flexural behavior Near-surface mounted (NSM) Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) Stress level a b s t r a c t This paper presents the results of an experimental research on bond and flexural behavior of concrete elements strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate strips under fatigue loading conditions, applied according to the near-surface mounted (NSM) strengthening technique. Long-term performance of the NSM system could be compromised by fatigue loading, which may result in deterioration and weakening of individual components (steel, FRP, concrete), or loss of bond performance and composite action. Hence, an experimental program composed of direct pullout tests and slab specimens was carried out to evaluate the influence of the stress level and amplitude of cycles imposed to the specimens. In bond fatigue tests, debonding failure occurred for a maximum stress level corresponding to 60% of the ultimate bond load obtained from monotonic loading. The fatigue loading imposed on the slabs did not yield to its failure. Consequently, the load carrying capacity obtained from post-fatigue tests of strengthened slabs was not significantly affected by this action.

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the performance of an optimization algorithm from the field of evolutionary computation, namely an Evolution Strategy, in back analysis of geomechanical parameters in underground structures. This analysis was carried out through a parametric study of a synthetic case of a tunnel construction. Different combinations of parameters and measurements were carried out to test the performance of the algorithm. In order to have a comparison base for its performance also three classical optimization algorithms based on the gradient of the error function and a Genetic Algorithm were used. It was concluded that the Evolution Strategy algorithm presents interesting capabilities in terms of robustness and efficiency allowing the mitigation of some of the limitations of the classical algorithms.Moreover a back analysis study of geomechanical parameters using real monitoring data and a 3D numerical model of a hydraulic underground structure being built in the North of Portugal was performed using the Evolution Strategy algorithm, in order to reduce the uncertainties about the parameters evaluated by in situ and laboratory tests. It was verified that the low quantity of monitoring data available hinders the possibility to identify the parameters of interest. The existence of information of only one additional extensometer perpendicular to the existing one would allow this identification to succeed.

This paper addresses the durability of bond between concrete and carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips installed according to the near-surface mounted (NSM) technique (NSM CFRP-concrete systems) under the effects of two main groups of environmental conditions: (i) laboratory-based ageing conditions; (ii) real outdoor ageing conditions. The bond degradation was evaluated by carrying out direct pullout tests on aged specimens that were previously subjected to distinct environmental conditions for different periods of exposure. Moreover, the degradation of the mechanical properties of the involved materials was investigated. The digital image correlation (DIC) method was used to document the evolution of the deformation fields at the surface over the whole region of interest consisting of concrete and epoxy adhesive at the ligament region. This information supported the discussion about the evolution of the bond resistant mechanism developed in NSM CFRP-concrete specimens during testing, as well as the assessment of the bond quality of the system. In general, the results obtained from the durability tests conducted have shown that the different exposure environments, which may be considered as quite severe, did not result in significant damage on NSM CFRP-concrete system. The maximum decrease of about 12% on bond strength was obtained for real outdoor environments. Conversely, a maximum increase of 8% on bond strength was obtained on the specimens exposed to the temperature cycles between -15 °C and +60 °C. DIC allowed to document the stress transfer mechanisms established between the CFRP and the concrete substrate, revealing the crack patterns and the influence widths of the CFRP reinforcement strips, which were shown to be important for avoiding group effect when using multiple parallel strengthening CFRP strips.

In NSM-CFRP installations, the mechanical behaviour of the strengthening system is strongly influenced by the epoxy adhesive, particularly at early ages. In the present work, the influence of temperature on the curing process of the epoxy was investigated. Three distinct temperatures were studied: 20, 30 and 40 °C. The elastic modulus of the adhesive was monitored through EMM-ARM (Elasticity Modulus Monitoring through Ambient Response Method). Direct pull-out tests with concrete specimens strengthened with NSM CFRP strips were carried out at the same three distinct temperatures to compare the evolution of bond performance with the E-modulus of epoxy since early ages. The results showed that increasing the curing temperature significantly accelerated both the curing process of the epoxy adhesive and the evolution of bond performance. The EMM-ARM technique has revealed its ability in clearly identifying the hardening kinetics of epoxy adhesives, allowing also thermal activation