Bond Durability of Basalt Fiber Reinforced Polymer Bars Embedded in Fiber Reinforced Concrete under the Effect of Saline Environment and Elevated Temperatures

Abstract

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) is promising to be an alternative solution for conventional steel to prevent the fast infrastructures' deterioration. Moreover, FRPs are utilized by the construction industry to improve the structural performance of concrete structures. FRPs have many advantages over the conventional steel reinforcements as FRPs exhibit better durability and higher resistance to aggressive environments, particularly, when exposed to high possibility of corrosion. The high strength-to-weight ratio of FRPs make them superior over the traditionally used materials when considering seismic loads as an increase in the dead load of a structure yields to a higher seismic force. One of the major parameters that significantly influence the structural performance is the bond behavior between the concrete and the reinforcement, since bond controls the concrete structures' capacity, serviceability and durability. Although FRPs exhibit high resistance to corrosion, chemical, and sever weather conditions, however unlike steel reinforcement, FRPs are anisotropic, linear elastic, and are mainly affected by their mechanical properties, manufacturing process, materials used, etc. Therefore, this will lead to a highly variable force transfer mechanism between the concrete and the FRP reinforcements. Therefore, investigating their bond performance and possible solutions to improve their bond with concrete is of a crucial importance