EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF SAND ADHESION TO SAND-COATED GFRP BARS

This paper reports a study intended to assess the adhesion of sand coating to sand-coated GFRP reinforcing bars and thereby determine whether this may affect the bond performance of such bars. A simple test method and apparatus is demonstrated that can be used to assess adhesion of sand coating to FRP bars. Sand adhesion test results are compared with ASTM D7913 pull-off tests. It was confirmed that, for the GFRP bars considered, the adhesion of the sand coating was superior to the bond capacity of the bar, although not by as great a margin as one may expect.