THE EFFECT OF TRANSVERSE STEEL REINFORCEMENT ON THE BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE BEAMS REINFORCED WITH GLASS POLYMER REBARS

In this study, through preparing an experimental program, flexural behavior of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) concrete beams is investigated using finite element method. For this purpose, 4 concrete beams with square section were modeled in Abaqus Software. In all beams, 4 GFRP No. 12 rebars and 10 steel rebars (A3) No. 8 were used with space of 250mm vertically to resists against shear cracks in beam. Beam no. 1 is without transverse reinforcement; beam no. 2 has a row of transverse reinforcement in beneath and is placed in plate of vertical reinforcements. Beam no. 3 has a row of transverse reinforcement above the beam and is placed in plate of vertical reinforcements; beam no. 4 has 2 rows of transverse reinforcement in upper and lower part of beam and is placed in plate of vertical reinforcements. Beams are exposed to force of 6tons gradually. In each beam, values of displacement and strain in mid part of beam are compared to each other. Obtained results show that force-displacement diagram of GFRP beams has been almost linear to the final step and equal in all beams. Adding transverserebar has led to fewer drops in mid part of beam compared to beams without transverserebar. Moreover, all beams were deformed under certain load; although in beams with transverse reinforcement, more load resistance and deformations were observed.