Experimental and numerical analysis of the behavior of corroded steel plates strengthened with thin-ply glass/carbon hybrid FRP composites

Abstract

An experimental and numerical study on the behavior of strengthening corroded steel plates using stepped ends of thin-ply hybrid FRP composites is carried out. The results showed that the hybrid strengthening of corroded steel plates mainly affected the elastic behavior. Debonding of FRP laminate was also witnessed after steel yield. Increasing the number of carbon layers increased the stiffness of the strengthened corroded plate. An enhancement in yielding load was achieved as the volume percentage of lower strain fiber in hybrid combinations decreases. The higher the tensile strength to the layer thickness ratio the higher the load of the strengthened specimen. The strengthening scheme using combination of one glass layer followed by one layer of medium elastic carbon increases the yield limit by 13% for 67% reduction in thickness where the same strengthening increases the yield limit by 7% for 22% reduction in thickness.

Keywords

• Corroded steel plate
• Hybrid Composites
• Stepped ends
• Coupled cohesive zone
• Hybrid effect