Flexural behavior of methyl methacrylate modified unsaturated polyester polymer concrete beams reinforced with glass‐fiber‐reinforced polymer sheets

Abstract

This study represents the behavior of flexural test of methyl methacrylate modified unsaturated polyester polymer concrete beam reinforced with glassfiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) sheets. The failure mode, load-deflection, ductility index, and separation load predictions according to the GFRP reinforcement thickness were tested and analyzed. The failure mode was found to occur at the bonded surface of the specimen with 10 layers of GFRP reinforcement. For the load-deflection curve, as the reinforcement thickness of the GFRP sheet increased, the crack load and ultimate load greatly increased, and the ductility index was found to be the highest for the beam with the thickness of the GFRP sheet at 10 layers (6 mm) or 13 layers (7.3 mm). The calculated results of separation load were found to match only the experimental results of the specimens where debonding occurred. The reinforcement effect was found to be most excellent in the polymer concrete with 10 layers of GFRP sheet reinforcement. The appropriate reinforcement ratio for the GFRP concrete beam suggested by this study was a fiber-reinforced-plastic cross-sectional ratio of 0.007-0.008 for a polymer concrete cross-sectional ratio of 1 (width) : 1.5 (depth).