Effect of Length of Composite on CFRP Strengthened Steel Beam-Column Joints under Cyclic Load

Steel members used in construction are highly durable but not invulnerable to deterioration. Once a steel structure has deteriorated, it may need to be reinforced to avoid replacing it altogether. Fiber-reinforced polymers such as CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) have drawn much attention in recent years across various research fields as a reinforcement material. This is due to many advantages such as their light weight, high strength-to-weight ratio, resistance to corrosion and high flexural strength. Numerous numerical and experimental studies have been conducted in the past for static load. In this paper, the numerical analysis of CFRP bonded along with bare steel beam-column joint has been carried out under cyclic loading for parametric conditions. The length of CFRP sheets is the parameter that is taken into account during this analysis. Three reinforced joints with varying length of CFRP reinforcement and one bare beam joint is used to compare the effects of various lengths of CFRP. The hysteresis curve, cumulative energy dissipation of the steel joint, as well as the stress distribution of the CFRP specimen were analysed. It is observed that increasing the length of CFRP reinforcement can improve the load carrying capacity of the beam.