Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290

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Construction and Building Materials

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RC beams strengthened by prestressed CFRP plate subjected to sustained

loading and continuous wetting condition: Flexural behaviour
Jun Deng a, b, Xiaoda Li b, Yi Wang c, *, Yan Xie b, Changkai Huang b
a
School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
b
School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
c
School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410075, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Time-dependent prestress loss of RC beams strengthened by a prestressed CFRP plate subjected to sustained
Flexural behaviour loading and continuous wetting condition was investigated in a previous study, which showed obvious deflection
Strengthening effect and crack development after long-term service. Thus, the degradation of flexural behaviour is investigated in this
prestressed CFRP plate
paper for the concern of safety. Eleven RC beams were prepared with different prestressing levels (0, 20% fu and
RC beams
Sustained loading
40% fu), environmental conditions (dried and wet), and sustained loading levels (0, 94 kN and 120 kN). After a
Continuous wetting condition year of exposure, four-point bending tests were conducted. The results showed that the cracking load of the
strengthened beams was decreased by up to 23.9% after suffering the sustained loading, while the reductions for
both the yield load and the ultimate load were insignificant. In addition, moisture exposure can improve the
cracking load and stiffness by 6.8% and 26.1% respectively, but the effect on the yield load and ultimate load was
not obvious. Moreover, the ultimate utilization ratio of CFRP plate in the 20% prestressed specimens can be
decreased by approximately 8.5% due to moisture exposure, whereas there was no change in the higher pre­
stressed specimens. Consequently, the test results reveal that strengthening RC structures by using prestressed
CFRP plate could be a reliable method in a moist environment. Finally, a model to predict the bearing capacity
was proposed based on the test results and a satisfactory agreement was reached.

1. Introduction
Reinforced concrete (RC) structures could deteriorate after long-term
service due to mechanical loading or harsh environmental exposure
[1–3]. To guarantee the safety of RC structures, maintenance measures
should be taken. Strengthening via carbon fiber reinforced polymer
(CFRP) has become a popular technique due to its many advantages
[4–7]. Although CFRP materials have an excellent mechanical perfor­
mance, premature debonding failure is a serious problem. Since
debonding is usually caused by the interfacial stresses due to a stiffness
imbalance [8–11], corresponding measures have been proposed, such as
mechanical anchorages, taped adhesives, etc. [12–19]. It seems that
these measures can effectively improve the bond performance of CFRP-
strengthened RC structures. However, the usage ratios of the mechanical
properties of CFRP under such conditions are still rather low and require
further improvement. In recent decades, the strengthening of deficient
RC/metallic structures via prestressed CFRP plates has also been tested
[20–24], and the results show that not only can it increase the CFRP
usage ratio [25–27], but it can also effectively reduce the interfacial
stress concentration [28]. By using this technique, the debonding
problem could also be solved. Even so, for field applications, the me­
chanical performance of strengthened RC structures will generally be
further degraded due to mechanical loading and environmental expo­
sure [29–31]. The deterioration of prestressed CFRP plate-strengthened
RC structures remains unclear and is worthy of further investigation.
Regarding environmental exposure, the effect of moisture has been
widely studied, since the bond properties are susceptible to water
penetration [32–38]. The adhesive layer is a weak point in strengthened
RC structures because the moisture could degrade the mechanical per­
formance of the adhesive due to plasticization effects [39,40]. More­
over, the moisture absorption of adhesive could result in adhesive
swelling, and then debonding between the concrete and epoxy resin due
to a reduction of the mechanical interlock capacity [33,41]. Prestressing
the CFRP can provide resistance against cracking [28], and the swelling
of the adhesive layer and the moisture penetration in the CFRP/concrete
interface could be impeded. Based on existing studies, using normal

* Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410075, China.
E-mail address: wangyi.ce@csu.edu.cn (Y. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.125290
Received 9 August 2021; Received in revised form 1 October 2021; Accepted 15 October 2021
Available online 28 October 2021
0950-0618/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Deng et al. Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290

CFRP, bond deterioration due to moisture could be serious after long- conditions, a series of tests were conducted. Prior to mechanical testing,
term exposure [42,43]. However, few studies have been concerned devices were proposed for prestressing the CFRP plates and applying
with cases with prestressed CFRP. Also, the prestress level of CFRP could sustained loads with continuous adhesive moisture exposure [49]. The
be affected by the wet condition, which is very important to the me­ experimental research flow is presented in Fig. 1. As shown, the effects
chanical performance of the strengthened structure. of the prestress level, sustained loading and moisture condition on the
For strengthened RC structures, concrete cracking could occur due to mechanical performance of the strengthened RC beams were consid­
mechanical loading, such as sustained loading. Although the mechanical ered. Based on the test results, the respective effects and their combined
performance under sustained loading has been a wide concern [30,44], effects could be understood. The details of the experimental program
strengthened RC structures are usually subjected to a combination of were given elsewhere [49] and are briefly described below.
mechanical loading and environmental exposure [45,46]. As shown by
the Hong et al. study [47], the amount of water absorbed by CFRP could 2.1. Specimen arrangement
be significantly increased when the CFRP is under sustained loading.
This means that the combination of sustained loading and moisture ef­ As shown in Fig. 1 and Table 1, 11 specimens were prepared for
fects could be more severe than the single effect, which has been verified testing. Among them, NP is the reference specimen, which is an RC beam
via experimentation on concrete-epoxy interface [48]. Even though the strengthened by a CFRP plate without prestressing. To consider the ef­
sustained load level is not high enough to cause the failure of prestressed fect of the prestress level, two levels of prestressing (20% and 40% of the
CFRP strengthened RC structures, cracks could be initiated and propa­ ultimate tensile strength of the CFRP plate) were considered. For each
gated time-dependently, ultimately resulting in a significant reduction prestress level of the CFRP, 5 strengthened RC beams were prepared,
in mechanical performance. It is known that the combined effects of including one strengthened simply by a prestressed CFRP, two with
sustained loading and continuous wetting conditions are detrimental to sustained loading (load levels of 94 kN and 120 kN, respectively) and
normal CFRP-strengthened RC structures, but whether it can accelerate two with a combination of sustained loading and environmental expo­
the damage process of RC structures strengthened by a prestressed CFRP sure (continuous wetting and dry conditions).
plate remains unclear.
Our previous study [49] monitored the time-dependent deflection of
prestressed CFRP-strengthened RC beams to study the prestress loss, and
the results showed a large deflection and crack propagation after 170
days of sustained loading while under a continuous wetting condition. It
may affect the safety of the strengthened beams, but the degradation of Table 1
flexural behaviour remains unclear. To predict the service life accu­ Arrangement of the test specimens.
rately, it is necessary to investigate the flexural behaviour of strength­ SpecimenNo. CFRP Environmental Sustained Sustained
ened RC beams subjected to these combined effects. Therefore, in this prestress condition load(kN) loading
level durations
study, the prestress loss, deflection and crack width of the strengthened
(Days)
RC beams suffering from 360 days of combined effects were determined.
NP 0 Dried 0 0
Subsequently, four-point bending tests were conducted on the
P20% 20% fu Dried 0 0
strengthened RC beams to study the mechanical performance influenced P40% 40% fu Dried 0 0
by the time-dependent cracking. The flexural behaviour of the RC beams P20%-S1 20% fu Dried 94 170
strengthened by a CFRP plate with and without prestressing that were P40%-S1 40% fu Dried 94 170
subjected to different sustained load levels and environmental condi­ P20%-S2 20% fu Dried 120 360
P40%-S2 40% fu Dried 120 360
tions was examined. The experimental results are significant for envi­
P20%-WS1 20% fu Wet 94 170
ronmental parameter reduction proposals and engineering application P40%-WS1 40% fu Wet 94 170
guidance. P20%-WS2 20% fu Wet 120 360
P40%-WS2 40% fu Wet 120 360
2. Summary of the experimental program Note: P represents the prestress, NP represents non-prestressed CFRP strength­
ening, W denotes that the CFRP plate was under a wet condition, and S1 and S2
To understand the mechanical behaviour of prestressed CFRP- indicate the sustained loading level, 20% and 40% fu denotes that the prestress
strengthened RC beams under sustained loading and wetting level is 20% and 40% of ultimate tensile strength of the CFRP plate, respectively.

Fig. 1. Flow chart of the experimental study.

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J. Deng et al. Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290

2.2. Materials and specimens 75 kN and 152 kN. Prestressing of the CFRP plate was conducted by step
loading. After prestressing the CFRP plate, the effective prestress was
Eleven rectangular RC beams were prepared for CFRP strengthening. closely related to the prestress loss. Once prestress loss occurred, the
The length of the beam was 2800 mm with a cross section of 160 × 300 CFRP strain changed. In this study, to monitor the CFRP plate strain
mm. The load span of the beam was 2600 mm. The main reinforcement variation, fibre bragg grating (FBG) was used. It is considered a reliable
on the top and bottom of the beam was HRB400 with a diameter of 20 way to obtain a strain variation over a long period. The arrangement of
mm. The stirrups of the beam were a deformed bar with a diameter of 10 the FBG can be seen in Fig. 2.
mm (HPB 335) and a spacing distance of 100 mm. The reinforcement
ratio was 1.43%, which was referred to in the China standard.
2.3. Sustained loading and environmental conditions
As mentioned in Ref.[49], pre-mixed concrete was used in this test
with a target compressive strength of 40 MPa. The average compressive
After the adhesive was cured, some strengthened specimens were
strength of concrete after 50 days of curing was 63.3 MPa. For the main
subjected to sustained loading and environmental action. The sustained
reinforcement (ϕ 20 mm) and stirrups (ϕ 10 mm), the yield strength and
load selection and the setup were described in detail elsewhere [49].
ultimate strength are 425 and 560 MPa, and 400 and 540 MPa,
Two CFRP plate-strengthened RC beams with different prestress levels
respectively. The CFRP plates had a thickness of 3.0 mm, a width of 50
were placed together as a set, as shown in Fig. 3. The beam with a
mm, and a length of 1300 mm. From the manufacture’s specification,
prestress level of 20% was on the top side, and the beam with a prestress
the tensile strength and Young’s modulus were 2450 MPa and 171 GPa,
level of 40% was on the bottom. The hydraulic jack was used to apply
respectively. The ultimate elongation was 1.64%, and the anchorage
the sustained loading at the mid-span, where two thick steel plates
index was 1.02. The adhesives had a tensile strength and an elastic
fastened by two long screws kept the stress transfer. During the three-
modulus of 51.3 MPa and 3558.3 MPa, respectively. The ultimate
point loading, when the sensors on the hydraulic jack showed the
elongation was 1.6% and the bond strength with concrete was 4.1 MPa.
designated value, the bolts on the screws were fastened to achieve the
Since prestressing the CFRP plate requires installing anchorage de­
sustained loading effect.
vices, grooves were preset on the two sides of the beam during casting,
From our previous test results, the bearing capacity of the P20%
and holes for the embedded bolt installation on the beam bottom were
beam under a four-point bending test was 248.2 kN and 283.5 kN for the
also cast in the model. After fixing the steel bars, the strain gauges were
P40% beam. For a highway bridge, the sustained load comes from the
attached on the steel bar at the mid-span. Then, the bolts were put at the
self-weight and the traffic load. From the calculations, the short effect
designed positions with a depth of 230 mm. When the concrete was cast,
and long effect loads for P20% are approximately 94 kN and 120 kN,
the RC beams were cured in a moist environment at room temperature.
respectively. Therefore, the two load levels were selected as the sus­
After 28 days of curing, the RC beams were externally bonded with the
tained load for different loading periods. Under the sustained load, the
CFRP plate. The prestressing strengthening system was developed by
concrete under tension could crack, and the tension reinforcement was
Nanjing Haituo and includes a Lica anchorage device, a Lica CFRP plate,
not yielded. This can simulate the cracking condition of a prestressed
adhesives and a tensioning system. As shown in Fig. 2, the tensioning
CFRP plate-strengthened RC bridge on site. In total, there were four sets
system includes a hydraulic jack, a baffle plate, a sensor, screw rods and
of sustained load beams, as presented in Table 1. Four beams were in the
fastening nuts. The prestressed levels of the CFRP plate in this study are
dried condition and the other four were in the continuous wetting
20% and 40% of the ultimate tensile strain (equivalent to ultimate
condition, with different prestress levels of the CFRP-strengthened RC
tensile strength) of CFRP, corresponding to the theoretical strain values
beams having different sustained load levels. The continuous wetting
of 2865 με and 5731 με, respectively. Since this tensioning system was a
condition was achieved by using a sponge. A device was designed to
load control, to simplify the operation, the tensile stresses were set to be
continuously wet the sponge, providing sufficient water to the

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of an RC beam strengthened with a prestressed CFRP plate [49].

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J. Deng et al.
Fig. 3. System of sustained loading and continuous wetting [49].
specimens.
Regarding the release of pressure after cracking the concrete, the
sustained loading level was maintained by adding an extra force every
three days in the first half month, after which it was performed once a
month. During the entire test, the sustained load level was at a minimum
maintained at 85%, as designed. Additionally, the deflection was
measured at the mid-span by using an LVDT. The deflection during the
long-term sustained loading was recorded.
2.4. Static flexural test
After a certain period of sustained loading, static four-point bending
tests were conducted for the damaged RC beams. As shown in Fig. 4, the
spreader beam has a span of 600 mm, and the capacity of the loading
machine was 500 kN. The test was displacement-controlled with a
loading speed of 0.5 mm/min at every step. The step loading began at 5
kN and was changed to 3 kN when the load value was higher than the
Fig. 4. Static four-bending test setup and strain gauge and LVDT and FBG arrangements.
4
Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290
calculated cracking load. When cracking or crushing in the compression
zone or tensile rupture of the CFRP plate was observed, the specimen
was considered to have failed, and the loading was stopped.
During the static loading, the load–deflection, steel bar strain, CFRP
strain and crack width were measured. The strain values were collected
by a TDS530 device, and the arrangement of the strain gauges can be
seen in Fig. 4. Along with the longitudinal centerline, seven strain
gauges (5 × 3 mm) were attached every 200 mm. For each main rein­
forcement, the strain gauges were also attached at the mid-span posi­
tion. The LVDTs were placed on the middle of the beam (mid-span), and
the deflections were monitored and recorded.
3. Test results and discussion
3.1. Test results under sustained loading
In a previous study [49], the time-dependent deflection of RC beams
J. Deng et al.
strengthened by a prestressed CFRP plate under sustained loading was
monitored for 170 days. In this study, monitoring was extended to 360
days for further analysis for S2 specimens. As shown in Fig. 5, the
additional deflections after application of the sustained load increased
rapidly during the first month and then increased more gradually until
190 days had elapsed. After that, the deflection was almost constant. For
dried specimens, it is clear that the deflection was larger with a higher
sustained load level and a lower prestress level. Because of the lower
prestress level, a higher compressive stress level in the concrete induces
an increased creep. Additionally, it is interesting to note that the
deflection increase rate was very different when the CFRP plate was
continuously exposed to moisture, especially for the case with a higher
sustained load level and a lower CFRP prestress level. However, the
increasing tendency was still similar; the most significant difference was
mainly attributed to the first 15 days of deflection increase. For the case
with a lower CFRP prestress level, the deflection tended to increase to a
higher level due to the lesser strengthening effect. To quantitatively
understand the time-dependent deflection increase in specimens under
sustained loading, the deflection values just after loading and at 150
days, 170 days and 360 days were compared, as shown in Table 2. As can
be seen, after 150 days of sustained loading, the deflection increased
significantly compared with the initial value. After 170 days of sustained
loading, the deflection increase was at least 30% for all cases and
specimen P40%-WS1 under continuous wetting condition had the
highest deflection increase, which implies that a further increase in the
prestress level may not be effective in preventing stiffness loss. After
360 days, for specimens with and without exposure to moisture, the
deflections showed no significant difference compared with those at
170 days, which indicates that the wetting condition had an insignifi­
cant effect on further deflection development.
At a higher prestress level, the initial deflection of the strengthened
RC beams could be decreased. Although an increase in the prestress level
cannot impede the deflection development, it can significantly reduce
the initial deflection. After 360 days, the highest deflection increase
ratio was P20%-WS2, instead of P40%-WS2, which means the prestress
level increase is somehow beneficial to the restraint of the deflection
increase. From 170 to 360 days, the actual deflection increase ratio was
less than 5%, which showed almost constant deflection.
Under sustained loading, a deflection increase may result in stress
release from the CFRP plate. The CFRP strain variation was monitored
during the entire sustained loading test, with the results presented in
Fig. 6. As is shown for all specimens with and without moisture expo­
sure, there was no clear difference in the CFRP strain variation after
sustained loading for 170 and 360 days. The case with a higher sustained
load level showed a higher CFRP strain, although the difference was not
significant. For higher sustained loading cases, the CFRP strain variation
before sustained loading, after sustained loading and after 360 days of
sustained loading are presented in Table 3, and particular attention was
given to the strain increase ratio. As can be observed, although the
Fig. 5. Time-dependent deflection variation curves of specimens under a sustained load (a) Dried CFRP (b) Wet CFRP.
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Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290
largest difference was between cases with different prestress levels in the
CFRP plate, no clear strain increase ratio difference was found. In all
cases, the strain increase was minimal, and the anchorage system was
effective in maintaining the CFRP stress condition. Even so, the spec­
imen exposed to the continuous wetting condition had a lower strain
increase ratio compared to that for the cases under the dried condition.
This reveals that moisture may affect the stress condition, but the effect
is not significant. The mechanical properties of the specimens after
sustained loading and moisture exposure are worthy of further
investigation.
3.2. Static bending test results
3.2.1. Bearing capacity and utilization ratio of the CFRP plate
After certain sustained loading periods, static flexural tests were
conducted to understand whether cracking during sustained loading can
affect the flexural behaviour of the strengthened RC beams. From the
tests, the bearing capacities, including the cracking load, yield load,
ultimate load and ultimate deflection, can be determined (see Fig. 7).
The cracking load was higher at a higher prestress level, as shown in
Fig. 7(a). Compared with specimens P20% and P40%, the cracking load
was increased by 48.6% by increasing the prestress level from 20% to
40%. After exposure to the sustained load level S1 for 170 days, the
P20% type specimen cracking load decreased by 13.7%, while for the
specimen under the sustained load level S2 for 360 days, the cracking
load of P20%-S2 had almost no change compared with P20%-S1 and
only further dropped by 1.8%. When the specimen is exposed to mois­
ture, the cracking load is at the same level as in the previous two cases.
Although the case subjected to a sustained load S1 and a wet condition
shows slight increases compared to the dried case (6.7%), the cracking
load of the case with S2 shows a slightly lower value (dropped by 1.8%).
The small difference may simply be due to experimental scattering.
Similarly, for specimens with a prestress level of 40%, after being sub­
jected to the sustained load S1 for 170 days and S2 for 360 days, the
cracking load decreased by 21.6% and 23.9%, respectively. When the
CFRP plate was wet, the cracking loads of both cases surprisingly
increased due to the moisture. For specimen P40%-WS1, it was
increased by 12% compared to that of specimen P40%-S1, while spec­
imen P40%-WS2 increased by 10.3% compared to specimen P40%-S2.
Therefore, sustained loading can decrease the cracking load, whereas
after wetting exposure, the cracking of the concrete can be delayed due
to the further hydration and strength improvement of the concrete.
For the yield load and ultimate load (Fig. 7(b) and (c)), the difference
in each case was insignificant. For all specimens with a CFRP prestress
level of 20%, refer to specimen P20%, where the yield and ultimate
loads variations were arranged from − 3.4% to 2.26% and − 2.7% to
1.5%, respectively. However, for cases with a prestress level of 40%, the
yield and ultimate strength of most of the specimens slightly increased
after sustained loading and wetting exposure, except for the yield load of
J. Deng et al. Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290

Table 2
Comparison of the additional deflections of specimens under sustained loading after certain periods.
Specimen No. Initial value (mm) 150 days (mm) Increase ratio (%) 170 days (mm) Increase ratio (%) 360 days (mm) Increase ratio (%)

P20%-S1 4.275 1.472 34.4 1.581 37.0 – –

P40%-S1 2.922 1.361 46.6 1.454 49.8 – –
P20%-WS1 4.200 1.764 42.0 1.857 44.2 – –
P40%-WS1 2.838 1.441 50.8 1.468 51.7 – –

P20%-S2 6.837 1.993 29.2 2.052 30.0 2.425 35.5

P40%-S2 4.197 1.809 43.1 1.821 43.4 1.983 47.2
P20%-WS2 6.037 2.989 49.5 3.042 50.4 3.415 56.6
P40%-WS2 4.083 1.708 41.8 1.766 43.3 1.971 48.3

Fig. 6. Time-dependent strain at mid-span variation curves of specimens under a sustained load (a) Dried CFRP (b) Wet CFRP.

deflection could increase. This is the reason why a higher sustained load
Table 3
level case shows a higher ultimate deflection. After moisture exposure,
Strain variation of CFRP plates at the mid-span.
because of the increase in the concrete strength, the stiffness can be
Specimen CFRP strain at mid-span (με) Increase increased, and the ultimate deflection can be reduced.
No. ratio
Before After After Strain Since the deflection is a comprehensive indicator of the damage of
sustained sustained 360 increase for strengthened structures, the load–deflection at the mid-span curves was
loading loading days 360 days obtained and is shown in Fig. 8. As observed in Fig. 8(a), under a dried
P20%-S2 2724 4967 5211 244 4.91% condition and with different CFRP prestress levels, the load–deflection
P40%-S2 5605 6958 7228 270 3.88% curves were distinctive, especially after the yield load. For specimens
P20%- 2810 5159 5299 140 2.71%
subjected to different sustained load levels, there was not much differ­
WS2
P40%- 5424 6892 7077 185 2.68% ence after the yield load, but it was obvious at the initial loading stage
WS2 for cases with a prestress level of 20%. For a higher prestress level, the
sustained loading can neither affect the initial stiffness nor the stiffness
at the strengthening stage (after the turning point). This means the
specimen P40%-S1. Compared with specimen P40%, the yield and ul­ sustained load may induce more cracks on the lower prestressed case,
timate loads variations were ranged from − 2.9% to 5.9% and 2.5% to and the cracking can influence the stiffness of the composite structure.
6.3%, respectively. While specimen P40%-S2 reached the largest yield On the other hand, under the wet condition, not only is the difference
load, specimen P40%-S1 had the largest ultimate load, although it had a between each CFRP prestress level clear, but also differences under
relatively low yield load. different sustained loads can be observed. At the initial stage, the stiff­
As shown in Fig. 7(d), the ultimate deflection increases with the ness of the specimens with the same CFRP prestress levels agreed with
sustained load level. For specimens with a CFRP prestress level of 20%, one another. However, as the load increased, the difference became
compared with the P20% case, the ultimate deflection increases by 1.9% obvious. With a higher sustained loading, the diverse appears earlier.
and 10.7% for the S1 and S2 sustained load levels, respectively. For The phenomenon implies that the higher prestress level of the CFRP
specimens with a CFRP prestress level of 40%, compared with the P40% plate can increase the stiffness of the strengthened RC beams. Under a
case there was an increase of 6.3% and 6.9% for the S1 and S2 sustained wet condition, a higher sustained level can not only cause more cracks
load levels, respectively. Therefore, the deflection increase is more but also promote the further hydration of cement and increase the
obvious in cases with a lower prestress level but a high sustained loading strength and stiffness of the concrete, contributing to a stiffness increase
level. In addition to the P20%-S1 case, all cases show a decreasing after cracking.
tendency when the specimen is exposed to a wetting condition, espe­ The strain in the CFRP plate at the mid-span was also measured, with
cially for specimens with a prestress level of 40%. Compared with the the results shown in Fig. 9. To quantitatively understand the stress
dried specimens (prestress level of 40%), the ultimate deflection of condition in the CFRP plate at the elastic stage, the strains at the mid-
P40% decreased by 16.7% and 14.6% for the S1 and S2 sustained load span were compared regarding 60% and 80% of the yield load (see
levels, respectively. The tendency was not clear for cases with a 20% Table 4). As presented in Fig. 9, the distinctive difference for cases with
prestress level, most likely because the specimen was placed on the and without a prestressed CFRP plate can be observed. With a higher
upside, as described in Section 2.3, and the moisture may be difficult to prestress, the CFRP strain increases relatively less with the load. This
transport into concrete (see Fig. 3). After the sustained loading, the phenomenon can be clearly seen in either the dried or wet cases.
stiffness of the strengthened beams decreased, and the ultimate

6
J. Deng et al.
Fig. 7. Bearing capacity specimens under different sustained load levels (a) Cracking load (b) Yielding load (c) Ultimate load (d) Ultimate deflection.
Additionally, since the sustained loading can cause the cracking of the
concrete, the stress condition of the composite specimen could change.
As shown in Table 4, compared with specimen P20%, after sustained
loading the strain at a load of 0.6 Py decreased by 12.4% and 5.4% for
the specimens P20%-S1 and P20%-S2, respectively. When the load
increased to 0.8 Py, the strains further decreased to 20.6% and 14%,
respectively. Similarly, for the case with a 40% prestress level, compared
with specimen P40%, the strain of specimens P40%-S1 and P40%-S2
decreased by 1.6% and 2.5% at a load of 0.6 Py, and by 6.6% and 10.5%
at a load of 0.8 Py, respectively. As can be observed, there was a large
difference between the cases exposed to dried and wet conditions. It
seems that after wetting exposure, the strain increase could be much
slower at the initial stage compared with the dried case, while reaching
similar strain values before failure. Due to the sustained loading, the
creep of the concrete could induce concrete cracking and increase the
crack width. The wetting exposure can allow the moisture to penetrate
the interface between the CFRP and concrete and weaken the bond
behaviour. As the crack width increases, the CFRP is likely to debond
with the concrete. Once debonding occurs, the stress concentration level
at the CFRP clearly decreased. As the load increases, the stress of the
CFRP plate would be distributed along the debonded CFRP plate, and
the increase in the strain in the mid-span could be decreased.
Additionally, the utilization ratio of the CFRP plate could be
analyzed regarding the effects of the sustained loading and wetting
condition, as presented in Table 5. Clearly, the utilization ratio can be
largely improved by increasing the prestress level of the CFRP plate.
Compared to the non-prestressed case, the utilization ratio of the 20%
case was almost doubled, and it could further increase by approximately
10% when the prestress level increased to 40%. From the P20% case, it
seems that the sustained loading can hardly affect the utilization ratio
with respect to different sustained load levels. However, the utilization
ratio at the ultimate load can be slightly decreased (by approximately
8.5%) due to the moisture environment. Although the moisture cannot
cause bond deterioration within one year, it could increase the strength
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Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290
and stiffness of the concrete and reduce the mechanical contribution
from the CFRP plate. It is interesting to note that this phenomenon
cannot be observed in cases with a prestress level of 40%, regardless of
the utilization ratio at the yield load or ultimate load. Even though
moisture could penetrate the concrete, because of the stronger restraint
effect of the prestressed CFRP plate, the deformation and strength
development of concrete could be impeded.
3.2.2. Failure modes and damage process
RC beams strengthened by a prestressed CFRP plate mainly show
three types of failure modes during bending, including concrete crushing
in the compression zone, tensile rupture of the CFRP plate and
debonding of the CFRP plate due to the failure of the CFRP plate
anchorage device. As shown in Fig. 10, the failure modes of specimens
under the dried and wet conditions are examined. In this study, all the
RC beams strengthened by a prestressed CFRP plate have concrete
crushing at the compression zone, which is a typical flexural failure.
When the stress in the reinforcement at the bottom reached the yield
strength, the deflection increased significantly until the crushing of the
concrete occurred at the mid-span of the compression zone. After sus­
tained loading, many cracks were initiated and propagated. While they
could somehow reduce the bearing capacity, the variation was not sig­
nificant, regardless of whether it was under dried or wet conditions.
Clearly, for different sustained load levels, the cracking in the RC beam
shows a different crack length. The cracks at the adhesive can propagate
towards the CFRP plate ends, but the total debonding of the CFRP plate
and the CFRP slip were not observed due to the effective anchorage of
the Lica anchorage system. This means that the deterioration of the
CFRP-concrete interface was insignificant for the mechanical perfor­
mance of the strengthened RC beams if the plate end anchorage system
is effective.
Because of the cracks induced by the sustained loading and the
continuous wetting of the CFRP, partial debonding of the CFRP plate
could occur and influence the strengthening effect. The CFRP strain
J. Deng et al. Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290

Fig. 8. Load-deflection at the mid-span curves of specimens under different sustained load levels (a) CFRP dried condition (b) CFRP wet condition.

Fig. 9. Load-strain of the CFRP plate at the mid-span of specimens under different sustained load levels (a) CFRP dried condition (b) CFRP wet condition.

development with the load increase was also analyzed, as shown in
Fig. 11. Compared with Fig. 11(a) and (b), they show very similar
debonding processes. The strain at the mid-span reached the largest
value and decreased gradually towards the CFRP plate ends. However,
after the duration of sustained loading, there were more cracks at the
mid-span, which were distributed evenly. As shown in Fig. 11(c) and (d),
before the load reached approximately 210 kN and 230 kN, respectively,
the CFRP strain distribution curves are also parabolas. However, the
maximum value was not at the mid-span; instead, it appears 200 mm
away from the mid-span where the crack propagation was more rapid
due to the existing cracks caused by sustained loading, as well as a more
severe stress concentration. After sustained loading, the strain of the
CFRP was distributed evenly, while the stress concentration occurred at
the mid-span for specimens without sustained loading. Due to sustained
loading and moisture exposure, the CFRP plate and concrete could have
synergistic effects (see Fig. 11(e) and (f)). At the position of concrete
cracking, moisture can affect the bond between the CFRP plate and the
concrete as well as the stress distribution on the CFRP plate. Before
loading, the redistribution of prestressing could be completed. In this
case, during static loading the strengthened beam could withstand the
stress evenly. The stress in the CFRP plate is distributed along the
bondline.

8
J. Deng et al. Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290

Table 4
Comparison of the CFRP strain variation at the mid-span.
Specimen No. Strain at 0.6 Py (με) Decrease of strain (με) Ratio of decrease(%) Strain at 0.8 Py (με) Decrease of strain (με) Ratio of decrease(%)

P20% 1852 – – 2686 – –

P20%-S1 1518 334 12.4 2133 553 20.6
P20%-S2 1707 145 5.4 2310 376 14.0
P20%-WS1 1557 295 11.0 1817 869 32.4
P20%-WS2 1225 627 23.3 1833 853 31.8

P40% 1765 – – 2730 – –

P40%-S1 1722 43 1.6 2550 180 6.6
P40%-S2 1696 69 2.5 2443 287 10.5
P40%-WS1 1475 290 10.6 2337 393 14.4
P40%-WS2 1139 626 22.9 1905 825 30.2

Note: 0.6 Py means when the load is 60% of the yield load, 0.8 Py means when the load is 80% of the yield load.

Table 5
Comparison of the strength utilization ratio of the CFRP.
Specimen No. Tensile strain(με) Yield strain (με) Ultimate strain (με)
Static test strain (με) Overall strain (με) Utilization ratio Static test strain (με) Overall strain (με) Utilization ratio

NP 0 2685 2685 19% 4502 4502 31%

P20% 2531 3525 6056 42% 5717 8248 58%

P20%-S1 2616 2749 5365 38% 5717 8333 58%
P20%-S2 2521 3017 5538 39% 6000 8521 59%
P20%-WS1 2688 2567 5255 37% 4938 7626 53%
P20%-WS2 2791 2919 5710 40% 4910 7701 54%

P40% 5563 3508 9071 63% 4580 10,143 71%

P40%-S1 5723 2727 8450 60% 5155 10,878 76%
P40%-S2 5711 3246 8957 63% 4984 10,695 75%
P40%-WS1 5940 2982 8922 63% 4035 9975 70%
P40%-WS2 5752 3366 9118 64% 4880 10,632 74%

Fig. 10. Failure modes of specimens under CFRP dried and wet conditions.

4. Theoretical analysis 4.1. Calculation of bearing capacity

Based on the experimental results, efforts were also made to calculate
the bearing capacity of RC beams under the combined effects of sus­
tained loading, prestress loss and wet environment. For the theoretical
analysis, there are five assumptions: 1) the concrete on the tension zone
cracks during the sustained loading; 2) the plain cross-section assump­
tion is valid after deformation; 3) there is a perfect bond between
reinforcement, FRP and concrete during the sustained loading; 4) Only
the time-dependent creep and shrinkage of concrete on the compressive
zone are assumed; 5) the position of the neutral axis will not be changed
during the sustained loading.
During the sustained loading, the concrete is cracking on the tension
zone of the strengthened beam and bear no stress, the creep and
shrinkage are not necessary to be considered. Therefore, only the
compression zone is considered for calculation in this study. According
to the plain cross-section assumption, the compressive stress induced by
shrinkage and creep on the compressive zone of concrete will cause the
corresponding tensile stress in the rebar under tension and CFRP plate.
Consequently, the bearing capacity of the strengthened beam will be
affected.
As shown in Fig. 12, the strain analysis of the cross-section was firstly

9
J. Deng et al. Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290

Fig. 11. Strain distribution of the CFRP plates with different prestress levels (a) P20% (b) P40% (c) P20%-S2 (d) P40%-S2 (e) P20%-WS2 (f) P40%-WS2.

Fig. 12. Strain analysis of cross-section for the strengthened beam.

10
J. Deng et al.
carried out. For the immediate moment of applying the sustained
loading, the cracks initiated at the tension zone of concrete, the
maximum strain of concrete under compression is εc0and the value is
related to the sustained loading level. As the time increase of sustain
loading, due to the shrinkage and creep of concrete under compression,
the maximum strain of concrete under compression increased to εc1
εc1 = εc0 + εcc (t) + εcs (t) (1)
where εcc(t) and εcs(t) are the compressive strain induced by shrinkage
and creep of concrete, respectively. The εcc(t) can be calculated by
multiplying the time-dependent creep coefficient and the compressive
strain induced by the immediate sustained loading, while the εcs(t) can
be obtained by summing of the shrinkage induced by self-shrinkage and
drying. The strains of shrinkage and creep are related to the size of the
specimen, the compressive strength of concrete (fcm), time and the
relative humidity (RH), which can be calculated based on the standard
[50].
Based on assumptions 2 and 5, when the increase of strain at the
compression zone of concrete is obtained during the sustained loading,
the strain increase of CFRP can be calculated as Eq. (2).
εc0 εc1 xcr
= = (2)
εf 0 εf 1 h − xcr
where xcr is the neutral axis after the cracking of the concrete, the im­
mediate increase of CFRP strain εf0 during sustained loading and the
strain increase due to the shrinkage and creep of concrete (εf1) can be
calculated. According to the analysis from ref. [51], after unloading, the
strains induced by shrinkage and creep remain and this part of strain is
also defined as the residual strain. Therefore, the residual strains of
CFRP and concrete of the strengthened beam after unloading are εf1-εf0
and εc1-εc0 respectively. For different failure modes, the calculation
method of the bearing capacity is different, as described below.
(1) Crushing failure of concrete under compression
As to the crushing failure of the concrete in the compressive zone, the
calculation of the ultimate bearing capacity of the prestressed reinforced
beam refers to the literature [24]
( xcr ) (x ) ( xcr )
(3)
′ cr ′
Mn = As fy ds − + As fy − ds + Af Ef εfuc h −
3 3 3 and the strain variation of CFRP was dominated by the prestress loss and
in whichεfuc is the total strain corresponding to the CFRP when the
concrete in the compressive zone fails under compression.
Considering the strain increase and prestress loss during prestressing
of CFRP and sustained loading, εfuc can be calculated as follows
εfuc = εpe + εcp + εfp + εf 1 − εf 0 − εloss (4)
in which εpe is the strain during prestressing of CFRP, it can be calculated
as a linear elastic material εpe = Pp/EfAf; εcp = Pp/ActEc + Ppef2/IcrEc is
decompression strain, Act and ef are the concrete area in the tension zone
and the distance from the CFRP centroid to the concrete centroid,
respectively; εloss is the prestress loss of CFRP; ε fp is the CFRP strain
during the static load process, which can be calculated from the strain
balance εfp = εcu [(h-xcr)/xcr], ε cu is the ultimate compressive strain of
concrete which can be set as 0.003. It is worth noting that for the
compressive failure of concrete, the continuous wetting of the CFRP-
concrete interface has no effect on the ultimate bearing capacity, so it
is not considered in the calculation.
(2) CFRP debonding failure
For the CFRP debonding failure, the ultimate bearing capacity of the
strengthened beam can be calculated as below
( xcr ) (x ) ( xcr )
(5)
′ cr ′
Mn = As fy ds −
3
+ As fy
3
− ds + Af Ef εfud h −
3 4.3. Model verification
in which εfud is the total strain when the CFRP is debonding.
With regard to the strain increase and the prestress loss during the
prestressing of CFRP and sustained loading, εfud is calculated as below
11
Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290
εfud = εfe + εcp + εdeb + εf 1 − εf 0 − εloss (6)
in which εdeb is the debonding strain of CFRP during the static loading,
and its calculation follows literature [51]
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
2Gf
εdeb = βl (7)
Ef tf
in which βl is the bond length coefficient.
⎧
1 (L⩾Le )
⎪
⎨
( )
βl = π L (8)
⎪
⎩ sin (L < Le )
2Le
Ef, tf and Gf are the elastic modulus, thickness and interfacial fracture
energy of FRP respectively.
For the interfacial fracture energy, it can be calculated based on the
equation proposed in Ref [52]:
( )− 0.352
( ′ )0.236 ( )0.023
Ga
Gf = 0.446 fc Ef tf (9)
ta
After environmental exposure, the interfacial fracture energy will be
reduced, as below
Gf (t) = α(t)Gf (10)
in which α(t) is the reduction factor of fracture energy, which can be
obtained by the single shear test of CFRP-strengthened concrete in the
same condition.
4.2. Prediction of prestress loss during the sustained loading
According to the description in Fig. 13 and Ref. [49], the variation of
strain at the end of CFRP plate during the sustained loading process is as
follows: due to the rapid development of cracks in the first 15 days, the
strain at the end of the CFRP increases; from 15 days to 120 days of
sustained loading, the time-dependent prestress loss of CFRP was offset
by the development of cracks; after 120 days, the cracks become stable
dropped rapidly. After 170 days, the strain decrease of CFRP slowed
down. Therefore, in the calculation of ultimate bearing capacity, the
prestress loss of the first 120 days during sustained loading is not
considered. Because there are still cracks remaining when the sustained
load is unloaded from the strengthened beam, the prestress loss of the
first 120 days is offset by the continuous development of cracks.
After 360 days of sustained loading, the prestress losses of P20% and
P40% cases are only 4.53% and 3.77%, respectively. For the ultimate
bearing capacity, the effect of the time-dependent prestress loss is
insignificant. In order to simplify the calculation, the influence from the
prestress level and the wet environment is not considered when
analyzing the time-varying prestress loss. As shown in Fig. 13, the CFRP
strain change slopes of the specimens for 120–170 days and 170–360
days are the same. The average slope and deviation of the CFRP strain
variations of 120–170 days and 170–360 days of each specimen are
linearly fitted, as shown in Fig. 14. By simplifying the calculation, the
prestress loss of the strengthened beam after 120 days of sustained
loading can be fitted into a bilinear equation, the slope of which is the
average slope of each specimen. Based on the fitting, the relationship
between the pre-stress loss and the sustained loading period is shown in
Fig. 15.
Based on the proposed model, the ultimate load of RC beam
strengthened by prestressed CFRP under sustained loading and wet
environment was calculated. The flow chart of the calculation is shown
J. Deng et al.
Fig. 13. Strain variation at the end of the CFRP plate.
Fig.14. Average slope and deviation of CFRP strain variation during the sus­
tained loading.
Fig. 15. Prestress loss of the CFRP plate end during the sustained loading.
in Fig. 16. Firstly, for the effect of sustained loading, the shrinkage and
creep of concrete under compression can be calculated by Eq. (1). Then
the strain increase of CFRP under sustained loading can be obtained by
considering the plain cross-section assumption. After that, the effects of
prestress level and time-dependent prestress loss are also considered for
12
Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290
Fig. 16. Flow chart of calculations.
the calculation of the strain of the CFRP plate, as presented in Eq. (4).
The calculation method of time-dependent prestress loss during the
loading process is shown in Fig. 15. For the crushing failure of the
concrete in the compression zone, only the effects of sustained loading
and the pre-stress level need to be considered. By substituting the CFRP
strain εfp corresponding to the ultimate compressive strain of concrete
into Eqs. (3) and (4), the ultimate moment of the strengthened beam can
be obtained. For the debonding failure of CFRP, in addition to the effects
of sustained loading and prestress level, it is also necessary to consider
the degradation of debonding strain of CFRP in a humid environment.
The fracture energy under environmental exposure is calculated by the
fracture energy reduction coefficient, which was obtained from a single-
shear test of CFRP-reinforced concrete in the same environment as
strengthened beams. The ultimate moment of the strengthened beam
can be calculated by substituting the debonding strain εdeb of CFRP ob­
tained from Eq. (7) into Eq. (5). Since there are few studies concerned
about the combined effect (sustained loading and environmental expo­
sure), the data from literature [49] is analyzed to verify the reliability of
the proposed model, in which the ultimate bearing capacity of nine
J. Deng et al. Construction and Building Materials 311 (2021) 125290

strengthened beams under the combined effect of sustained loading and
wetting–drying cycles was studied. Table 6 presents the comparison
between the calculated and the experimental results, which shows a
good agreement. For concrete compressive failure, the ratio of the
average calculated value to the experimental value is 1.05, the coeffi­
cient of variation (COV) is 3.6%; while for debonding failure, the ratio of
the average calculated value to the experimental value is 0.95, the co­
efficient of variation (COV) is 5.1%. For both failure modes, the pro­
posed model can satisfactorily predict the ultimate bearing capacity.
Therefore, the model is reliable and considers multiple parameters
related to the actual conditions, including the strain changes of CFRP
and concrete during the sustained loading, the influence of different
prestress levels and time-dependent prestress loss, two failure modes
(concrete compression failure and CFRP debonding failure), the degra­
dation effect of humid environment on CFRP debonding strain. How­
ever, the time-dependent prestress loss under the action of sustained
loading can only be obtained by linear fitting of limited data at this
moment, the formula is difficult to be derived based on the mechanism.
5. Conclusions
An innovative prestressing system with an externally bonded CFRP
plate was developed to strengthen the RC beams in our study. After
exposure to a sustained load and a continuous wetting condition, the
deflection and CFRP strain variations were recorded during the entire
sustained loading period. In this paper, the flexural performance of the
treated beams was examined by conducting static four-point bending
tests. The bearing capacities, load–deflection, load-mid-span steel bar
strain, load-mid-span CFRP strain relationships and failure modes were
determined. Based on the results and discussion, the following conclu­
sions can be drawn.
(1) The proposed system is effective in restricting deflection and
strain development and shows a good long-term performance.
For an RC beam strengthened with a 20% prestressed CFRP plate,
while sustained loading can hardly affect the utilization ratio of
the CFRP plate with respect to the different sustained load levels,
the utilization ratio at the ultimate load level can be decreased by
approximately 8.5% due to the moisture environment. However,
this phenomenon was not clear in cases with a prestress level of
40%, probably because the deformation of concrete was strongly
restrained by the prestressed CFRP plate and the stress condition
hardly changed.
(2) For all cases, the sustained loading and wet condition had no
clear effect on the yield load and ultimate load, for which the
variation were insignificant (up to 6.3%). The cracking load was
decreased by the sustained loading, especially for the case with a
higher sustained load level, with a decrease ratio of up to 23.9%.
For cases exposed to continuous wet condition, the cracking load
decrease was lower (within 10%). The beneficial effect of mois­
ture can be attributed to the concrete strength increase due to the
increase in cement hydration.
(3) Under the dried condition, the stiffness of the strengthened beams
decreased after sustained loading, and the ultimate deflection
could increase during static loading (up to 10.7% in this study).
Under the wet condition, the stiffness showed a similar trend as
that observed in the dried condition after sustained loading.
However, moisture exposure can increase the stiffness of the
specimens. In the wet condition, the ultimate deflection of a
specimen at a 40% prestress level decreased by 16.7% and 14.6%
at different sustained load levels.
(4) After suffering from sustained loading and wetting exposure, the
failure modes showed no clear difference compared with those of
the strengthened beams without sustained loading. They all un­
derwent concrete crushing failure in the compression zone. As the
load increased, the cracks initiated by the sustained load rapidly
propagated to the ends of the CFRP plate. Due to the anchorage
system, although the CFRP debonded partially during loading,
specimen failure due to a completely debonded CFRP was not
observed.
(5) An empirical model to predict the bearing capacity of strength­
ened beams under the combined effects of sustained loading and
wet environment is proposed based on the experimental results
and a good agreement was reached. Due to the limited available
data, the applicability of this model still requires further inves­
tigation in the future.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Jun Deng: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original
draft. Xiaoda Li: Visualization. Yi Wang: Supervision, Writing – review
& editing. Yan Xie: Visualization. Changkai Huang: .
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

Table 6
Comparison of calculated and experimental results.
Ref. ID Prestressing (MPa) Sustained load (kN) Loading time (day) Failure mode Condition Pu, Exp. (kN) Pu, Ana. (kN) Cal./Exp.

Present Study NP 0 F 210.97 205.43 0.97

P20% 490 0 FC 248.22 248.35 1.00
P40% 980 0 FC 264.35 286.62 1.08
P20%-S1 490 94 170 FC 244.60 256.86 1.05
P20%-S2 490 120 360 FC 245.95 267.88 1.09
P40%-S1 980 94 170 FC 280.94 288.36 1.03
P40%-S2 980 120 360 FC 280.19 298.71 1.07
P20%-WS1 490 94 170 FC Wet 241.58 256.86 1.06
P20%-WS2 490 120 360 FC Wet 251.84 267.88 1.06
P40%-WS1 980 94 170 FC Wet 270.99 288.36 1.06
P40%-WS2 980 120 360 FC Wet 273.55 298.71 1.09

[51] BC-90-0 90 DB W/C 81.00 70.93 0.88

BC-180-0 180 DB W/C 74.85 67.52 0.90
BC-360-0 360 DB W/C 74.30 66.97 0.90
BC-90-0.3 23.66 90 DB W/C 71.50 70.90 0.99
BC-180-0.3 23.66 180 DB W/C 74.56 71.94 0.96
BC-360-0.3 23.66 360 DB W/C 74.18 72.99 0.98
BC-90-0.6 47.32 90 DB W/C 78.00 72.40 0.93
BC-180-0.6 47.32 180 DB W/C 76.46 74.67 0.98
BC-360-0.6 47.32 360 DB W/C 75.74 76.94 1.02

Note: “F” means the beam specimen is damaged by flexure, “FC” means the crushing failure of concrete, and “DB” means the debonding of CFRP plate.

13
J. Deng et al.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China through Grants (Project Nos. 51778151, 51708133).
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