Abstract
This paper presents an experimental assessment of the repair effectiveness of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) laminate for damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams with a circular web opening at the shear zones. The study highlights the effect of the opening diameter on CFRP repair effectiveness by examining the effect on the ultimate load capacity, deflection, steel strain, CFRP laminate strain and failure modes. In the experimental programme, a total of four beams were used inclusive of one solid beam used as a control beam. The other three beams were designed with different opening diameters and were exposed to damage at the pre-repair stage, up to their ultimate capacity. Damaged beams were repaired using externally bonded CFRP laminate around the openings. The results concluded that the CFRP laminate repair system was effective regardless of the web opening diameter. It was found that the increase in the opening diameter resulted in a higher deflection as well as higher strain values for the mid-span reinforcement and shear stirrups. The CFRP repaired beams behaviour transformed from brittle at the pre-repair stage to ductile at the post-repair stage. The failure mode of the CFRP repaired beams with a smaller opening diameter changed from shear failure to flexural failure, while the larger opening diameter beams failure mode was governed by CFRP deboning at the shear zone.