Effects of bondline thickness in externally bonded joints processed with vacuum assisted resin infusion

The interfacial behaviour between concrete and fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) materials has been investigated for two commonly used processing techniques, wet lay-up sheets and pultruded laminates. However, the experimental database on the bond between concrete and FRP plates processed with Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion (VARI) technique is limited. In this paper, the bond characteristics between the VARI processed FRP plates and concrete substrate is studied. Tests provide investigative analysis of the interface behaviour of the adhesively bonded joints processed with the VARI technique. Experiments carried out using a new modified single lap shear test set-up enables the slip between FRP plate and substrate to be monitored during the test with higher precision. During the testing, the effect of the FRP thickness on the interface behaviour was considered by variation of the bondline from 2 mm to 6 mm