Abstract
This paper studies experimentally and numerically the effect of large rectangular web openings in the shear zone on the response of unstrengthened and upgraded reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Studied parameters were opening size and strengthening scheme. Seven simply supported RC beams were prepared and tested under the action of two point loads. Beams comprised of one reference specimen without opening (i.e. solid beam) and six beams constructed with two large rectangular web openings, symmetrically located near supports. Out of the six beams with openings, two specimens were unstrengthened and four beams were strengthened with two fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) strengthening schemes. In one of the schemes, beams were strengthened using two layers (0 degrees/90 degrees) of carbon FRP (CFRP) sheets. However, the second scheme was a hybrid system comprising of glass FRP (GFRP) sheets anchored with bolted steel plates. The numerical models were prepared and the results of finite element (FE) analysis were validated with experiments. The validated numerical analysis was then used for some useful parametric studies in which the effect of different parameters was investigated. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.