FIRST USE OF FRP REINFORCEMENT BARS IN URUGUAY: DESIGN AND EXPERIMENTAL TESTING OF FRP REINFORCED BEAMS AND COMPARISON WITH CONVENTIONAL STEEL REINFORCED BEAMS

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) reinforcement bars are being increasingly used around the world. Despite other applications of FRP materials, there are no bibliographic references of applications of this technology in Uruguay. This experimental project was designed with the aim of helping introduce them, comparing the behaviour of Glass FRP (GFRP) and steel as concrete reinforcement (RC). Three reinforced concrete beams were made with GFRP flexural reinforcement, and three with steel flexural reinforcement. The beams were 3.5 metres long and the cross-section was rectangular (0.15m x 0.30m). Beams were tested under a four points flexural set-up. Cross-sections of both types were designed to fail at the same load. Displacement of the central point (with LVDT’s), cracking pattern, failure load and failure mode of the beams were registered during the test. Results showed that both types of beams reached the ultimate design load (around 60 kN). However, as expected, displacements of the GFRP beams were larger (around 6 times) than the steel beams. Moreover, the deformation of the beams, predicted according to ACI 440.1R-15, was in good agreement with the experimental results. Hence, GFRP bars can be used as a substitute of the flexural steel reinforcement in RC structures, even though serviceability conditions may govern the design.