Abstract:
Application of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites in strengthening of existing reinforced concrete
(RC) structures has been widely accepted. However, the durability of adhesively bonded CFRP-concrete
joint has not yet been fully investigated, which therefore paves the way to the topic addressed in this work:
the durability of the joint in concrete elements strengthened with CFRP laminate using externally bonded
reinforcement (EBR) technique. Concrete strengthened elements were kept in laboratory-controlled environments
(approximately 20 ◦C/55 % RH, and water immersion at 20 ◦C), while others were kept outdoor to mainly
promote natural ageing by carbonation, high temperatures, freeze-thaw attacks, and airborne chlorides. The
results from durability tests after 4 years of exposure showed insignificant bond strength degradation but with a
noticeable bond stiffness reduction, also, the stiffness degraded faster than the strength. Besides, environmental
conversion factors of 0.75 and 0.95 were derived from a database of existing accelerated ageing test data and the
natural ageing test data from the present work, respectively.