State-of-the-art review of anchored FRP shear-strengthened RC beams: A study of influencing factors

Several anchorage techniques have been proposed in the literature to delay or prevent the debonding failure mode and to upgrade and restore the capacity of externally bonded (EB) fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) shear-strengthened beams in a U-wrapping scheme, such as NSM, FRP extension, FRP insertion, horizontal FRP, FRP patch, FRP rope, FRP spike, metallic anchors, and combined anchors. Although the advantages of these anchorage techniques have been acknowledged by researchers, their effectiveness in enhancing FRP shear contribution is controversial. The present study is a state-of-the-art review of experimental tests that were carried out to investigate the effectiveness of anchorage techniques for FRP shear-strengthened beams. The various anchorage techniques are evaluated in terms of FRP shear strength and FRP strain based on the parameters that have a major influence on the behavior of FRP shear-strengthened beams. Furthermore, strength models for FRP shear-strengthened beams provided in various design guidelines are used to predict FRP shear strength compared to experimental results. The significance of the present findings with respect to FRP shear contribution is discussed.