Bond performance of carbon fiber reinforced polymer rebars in ultra-high-performance concrete

This paper investigated the bond performance between carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars and ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) by a hinged beam test investigation. A total of 11 sets of beam tests were carried out to investigate the effect of different parameters on the bond performance, including steel fiber volume fraction, bonded length, reinforcement diameter, and concrete cover. The tests showed that the bond damage modes between CFRP bars and UHPC were dominated by pull-out damage, with the surface of the bonded section of CFRP bars being peeled off from the internal core and no damage observed in the UHPCs. An increase in the cover and steel fiber volume fraction improves the bonding performance, while an increase in diameter reduces the bond performance. Based on this study, the formulae for calculating the ultimate bond strength and development length that integrated the effects of CFRP bar diameter, bonded length, and cover thickness were proposed. The bond-slip curve shows three stages, i.e., ascending section, descending section, and a residual section showing periodic fluctuations. The fluctuation period showed a certain degree of linear correlation with the rib spacing of CFRP bars. Based on the characteristics of tested curves, a bond-slip constitutive model was proposed to simulate the bond-slip behavior of CFRP bars in UHPCs with good agreement to test results.