Experimental investigation into strengthened short reinforced concrete corbels by bonding carbon fiber fabrics

This paper presents the mechanical behavior of strengthened short reinforced concrete corbel bonded by composite carbon fiber fabrics. Often, short reinforced concrete corbel is used in Civil Engineering and in building constructions. In fact, this paper investigated the influence of some parameters on the mechanical behavior of corbel specimens. The parameters are the carbon fiber fabric layers, type of strengthening by gluing directly fabrics on the front and rear of specimen faces or by wrapping. The composite materials used in this study are unidirectional and bidirectional carbon fiber fabrics. The ultimate load is obtained from monotone static test. The extensometer technique based on gauge strain is used to study the local behavior of structures. This technique allows one to measure strains of electric gauges glued to the surface of carbon fiber fabrics, concrete and steel bar. Finally, the cracking and failure modes of specimen are presented.