Experimental investigation of CFRP strengthened damaged steel plates subjected to static loading

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the static behaviour of damaged steel plates strengthened with Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP). Key parameters varied in the test program include steel plate thickness, damage degree of steel plates and elastic modulus of CFRP. The load carrying capacity of strengthened members significantly increased by up to 117% for specimens strengthened with normal modulus CFRP and 78% increase for those with High modulus CFRP, compared with those non-strengthened damaged members. Ductile behaviour is observed for specimens strengthened with normal modulus CFRP and even those strengthened with High Modulus CFRP sheets, given the damage degree of base steel plates not exceeding 40%. It is also found that there is little effect of damage degree on bond strength for specimens with Normal modulus CFRP, but damage degree is more critical on bond strength for specimens with High Modulus CFRP.