The flexural behaviour of SCC beams pre-stressed with BFRP

Corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete bridges leads to costly maintenance and repairs. As a result, the application of FRP materials as an alternative to steel has developed increasing interest in the last decade. This can be attributed to the FRP’s potential to be utilised within sustainable infrastructure as a lightweight, non-corrosive material with high tensile strength. A perceived issue regarding the use of FRP bars is the lower elastic modulus despite the higher tensile strength in comparison to conventional reinforcing steel resulting in greater deflections of beams under similar loading. A solution is to pre-stress concrete beams to reduce deflections. Basalt Fibre Reinforced Polymer (BFRP) is an alternative to E-Glass or Aramid FRP. This report details an experimental investigation into the behaviour of concrete beams pre-stressed with BFRP bars and describes the development of a pre-stressing method. Beams were subjected to four-point flexural testing under load control conditions with the SLS and ULS behaviour observed and compared with reinforced beams under no pre-stress. Furthermore, BFRP was cast in self-compacting concrete (5CC) using waste material to partially replace Portland cement thus providing a durable, homogenous, low carbon alternative. Test variables considered include the pre-stress material and beams with and without pre-stress. This research is part of a FP7 EiroCrete project with the aim to develop zero maintenance, low energy solutions to reduce the long-term costs associated with infrastructure projects.