Flexural strength using Steel Plate, Carbon Fiber Reinforced

Polymer (CFRP) and Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP)

on reinforced concrete beam in building technology
1. Introduction

Many of today's buildings use concrete as building technology, rather than the steel or wood, as
construction materials because concrete has several advantages. The price is relatively low because it uses
materials from local materials such as aggregate and cement. Concrete is wear-resistant and fire resistant
materials so that the cost of maintenance is low. Concrete is composed of high-pressure material and has
resistance to decay by environmental conditions. Also Concrete is very sturdy against earthquakes,
vibrations, and wind loads. Besides that, fresh concrete can be easily lifted or cast in any form and any
size depending on the desire so that the casting time is short.
With many advantages of concrete, it is not surprising that the current building construction uses
concrete as material. But now many buildings of old concrete so much damage that occurred. By
rebuilding or redesigning already damaged buildings, it is not economically feasible. Under these
circumstances, it is now widely used retrofitting or repairing concrete using reinforcement. The concrete
conctructions can apply it to increase the strength in high rise buildings and also for reinforcement due tothe
earthquake

Strengthening concrete construction has developed for years. Some commonly used retrofitting
methods include giving sheath to concrete construction or called jacketing using Fiber Reinforced
Polymer material (FRP) and installing the steel plate in the concrete beam section.
Nowadays many reinforced concrete structures are beginning to break down indicated by cracks,
excessive deflections, and corrosion in reinforcing bars. The error in mix design and human error when
casting in the field are several factors that cause damage to buildings. We can retrofit it so that the existing
structure can accept the load according to the initial design as well as the new one for the functional
changing structure. There are several ways to do it such as adding a layer of concrete, reinforcing steel
plate, or using Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP).
Fiber Reinforced Polymer has many types among others, are CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced
Polymer) and GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer) whose function is almost the same as the use of
thin steel plate as reinforced concrete beam reinforcement, which strengthens the tensile part of the
reinforced concrete beam.[4]
Fiber Reinforced Polymer has greater tensile strength than steel plate and high stiffness, Fiber
Reinforced Polymer (FRP) is simple in installing and lighter than the steel plate. Fiber Reinforced
Polymer (FRP) is also resistant to corrosion. Despite its relatively high price, FRP provides the most
economical solution to retrofitting because it can dramatically reduce labor costs.
The purpose of this research is to perform experiments on the use of steel plates, Carbon Fiber
Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) and Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) on the strength of concrete
bending and analyze which type of reinforcement beam is best. While the dimensions and treatment of test
specimens are made equal, the specimens can be compared properly. As for the output of this study is
expected to be used as a reference of the best external reinforcement in building technology.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Related theory from previous studies
Previous studies related to external reinforcements in building technology have been widely used.
Pangestuti and Handayani examine the use of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plate (CFRP) as an external
reinforcement in the structure of reinforced concrete beams. In this experiment, the beam’s measurement
is 150 × 250 mm and 2 m long with two treatments. The first beam is given a single reinforcement which
is used as a control beam and a second beam without reinforcement and is given a layer of CFRP . From
this research is found that placement of CFRP as external reinforcement in tension side of beam can
inhibit the emergence of first crack and load beam ability until the initial crack increase by 50%.[12]
Ireneus Petrico discusses the comparison of flexural strength of Reinforced Concrete Beam using Carbon
Fiber Reinforced Polymer and Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer. The results of the study and analysis
using CFRP and GFRP showed significant increases in flexural strength of the beam. CFRP can increase
the flexural strength of the beam to 65.934%, while the GFRP is only at 43.956%. As for the comparison
of these two materials, CFRP is superior to GFRP in terms of adding flexural strength.[4]
Alnadher Ali in his study discusses the comparison of reinforced concrete beams without CFRP and
with CFRP using experimental methods as many as 16 reinforced concrete samples are casted with SCC
(Self Consolidating Concrete) concrete design. The result of the research is that there is an increase of
bending strength in the reinforced concrete beam of 7.4% of the reinforced concrete bending strength
without CFRP.[11]
Manna Haloho and Johannes Tarigan in their studies discuss reinforced concrete reinforcement using
steel plate. Based on the analytical result there is an increase in the strength of the beam is 3.79 times the
initial strength while the test obtained an increase in beam strength of 2.44 times the initial strength. Based
on the results of this test, it can be concluded that the use of steel plate in the tensile area can increase the

strength and minimize deflection and the use of anchor to paste the steel plate with concrete can overcome
the problem of loose plate from the concrete beam.[3]
Ivandy Yoman and Johannes Tarigan discuss the strength comparison of reinforced concrete beam
using steel plate and Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP). The researchers use Carbon Fiber Reinforced
Polymer (CFRP) while steel plate data taken from Manna Haloho’s previous research. Based on the
analytical result there is an increase of beam strength with FRP is 1.991 times the initial strength, while
with steel plate that is 1.646 times the initial strength. From the test obtained an increase in beam strength
with FRP of 1.444 times the initial strength, while with steel plate of 1.167 times the initial strength.
Based on the results of this test, it can be concluded that the use of FRP in the tensile side of beam is able
to withstand bigger strength than steel plate and also able to inhibit the initial crack.[2]
2.2. Compressive strength of concrete
Concrete is good material in compressive strength, and very weak with tensile resistance. When the
concrete is accepting the compressive stress the concrete will shorten, altering the length of the alias there
is a strain which is linear. The stress on the concrete reaches its peak at the stress (f’c) around the 0.002

strain, then drops slightly to crack at 0.003 strain. This is typical of concrete stress at its age.[6]

Figure 1. The graph of the strain-stress on concrete.

For compressive strength calculation of the cylindrical sample can be used the following formula:
f’c = _
_
(1)
Information:
f’c = Compressive Strength on Concrete (MPa)
P = Pressure Load (N)
A = The cross-sectional area of sample (mm2)
2.3. Tensile strength of steel
Steel is a strong material withstanding tensile, and weak in holding pressure. In steel occurs two types of
deformation, namely elastic and plastic. The elastic deformation is the deformation that occurs in the steel
when it is applied, and will be lost when the stress is eliminated. This means that when the stress is
eliminated, the steel will return to its original shape and size. Plastic deformation is the deformation that
occurs in steel permanently, even though it is not given a stress. The yield stress (fy) is the steel stress at

which the rising stress is not accompanied by an increase in the strain.

2.4. Reinforced concrete beam

To withstand large tensile forces on the lower edge beam fibers, it is necessary to have reinforcing steel
so-called reinforced concrete beams. In this reinforced concrete beam section, the steel reinforcement is
planted in the concrete in such a way that the tensile force required to withstand the moment at the cracked
cross section can be retained by the reinforcing steel

2.5. Load-deflection theory on reinforced concrete beam

As a result of the increase of loading on the beam causes strength and the stiffness of the beam in
accepting the load becomes reduced. From this it can be seen that the bigger load accepted, the deflection
is bigger too. So that the beam stiffness value becomes reduced

Figure 4. The Graph of The Load-Deflection on

Reinforced Concrete Beam.

2.6. Addition of fiber reinforced polymer on reinforced concrete beam

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) is a type of thin plate in which there are carbon, glass, aramid fibers.
Three principles of FRP use in structural reinforcement are increasing the capacity of the bending
moment, shear and axial load on the beam.[2]
Specifically, the fiber material applied to the reinforced concrete beam can be glass fiber, carbon, and
aramid. Each has a resemblance between one and the other. The choice of fiber types for retrofitting or
repairing a structure depends on several factors, such as structure type, available cost, planned load,
environmental conditions, etc.
The stress – strain condition of the concrete sections having flexure can be seen in figure 5. Cc is the
compressive force of the concrete, Ts is the tensile force of the steel bar and jd is the distance from Cc to

Information:
b = the width of the beam (mm)
h = the height of the beam (mm)
a = the height of the square stress diagram (mm)
c = the distance from neutral line to the outermost of stress fiber (mm)
d = the distance from the outermost of stress fiber to the steel bar (mm)
Cc = the compressive force of the concrete (N)
Ts = the tensile force of steel bar (N)
jd = the distance from Cc to Ts (mm)
f’c = the compressive strength of concrete (MPa)
fy = the yield stress of steel (MPa)
As = the cross-sectional area of steel bar (mm2)
From figure 5 then:
Cc = 0,85 f’c . a. b (2)
Ts = As. fy (3)
Σ__ = 0 _ℎ __ = _ (4)
As. fy = 0,85 f’c . a. b (5)
a = __.__
_,__ _’_ . _
(6)
Based on the equations above, the nominal moment of plain reinforced concrete beam is given by equation

Σ_ = 0 _ℎ __ . __ = _ (7)
Because Ts = Cc , so Mn can be translated into equation (8).
_ = __. __. __ (8)
If the FRP is installed to the RC Beam then the flexural strength of the beam occurs as in figure 6. Tf is the

tensile force of FRP and jdf is the distance from Cc to Tf. [12]

Information:
Tf = the tensile force of FRP (N)
jdf = the distance from Cc to Tf. (mm)
fyf = the tensile strength of FRP (MPa)
Asf = the cross-sectional area of FRP (mm2)
From figure 6 , we can find that :
Tf = Asf . fyf (9)
Cc = Ts + Tf (10)
0,85 _’_ . _. _ = __. __ +___. ___ (11)
a = __.______.___
_,__ _’_ . _
(12)
_ = __. __. __ +___ . ___ . ___ (13)
For flexural strength with FRP, design calculations refer to ACI Committee 440[1]. The calculations are
summarized in the equations above. Based on equations (8) and (13), there is an increase to the flexural
strength of RC beam due to the addition of (Asf, fyf and jdf). This proves that the addition of FRP can
improve the ability of beam in flexure much better than normal condition (without reinforcement). This
research will validate the theory above by doing analysis and experiments on RC Beams.
3. Research Methodology
The method in this research is an experimental performed at the Concrete Laboratory of FT USU and the
FT USU’s Structural Laboratory. The test specimens consisted of three cylindrical of 15 cm in diameter