Flexural tests of continuous concrete slabs reinforced with basalt fiber-reinforced polymer bars

Continuous steel-reinforced concrete slabs are vulnerable to corrosion damage and cracking. Non-metallic basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) bars have a great potential to overcome corrosion problems. In this paper, test results of six continuous concrete slabs internally-reinforced with BFRP bars are reported. The specimens were divided into two groups based on the BFRP reinforcement ratio in the sagging regions (2.5_ρfb and 0.8_ρfb), where p/b is the balanced reinforcement ratio of BFRP reinforcement. In each group, the hogging-to-sagging BFRP reinforcement ratio was 0.5, 0.72, or 1. Increasing the hogging-to-sagging BFRP reinforcement ratio increased the ultimate load but had almost no effect on the cracking load. The flexural response of continuous slabs that failed by rupture of BFRP bars was more sensitive to the hogging-to-sagging BFRP reinforcement ratio than that of the slabs that failed by concrete crushing. The moment redistribution ratio in the sagging region at failure of the later specimens was in the range of +40% to +48% compared to +10% to +26% for the former specimens.