Prediction of load capacity variation in FRP bonded concrete specimens using brownian motion

Abstract

In wet lay-up process, dry fiber sheets are saturated with a polymer and applied to the concrete surface by hand. This causes relatively large variation in properties of the cured FRP composite material. It is hard to know the exact mechanical properties of the FRP constructed by wet lay-up process. In addition, the stiffness of FRP changes during debonding process due to different amount of concrete attached to the debonded FRP at different locations. It is also inevitable to have considerable variations in the strength of concrete. Therefore, the behaviour of FRP bonded concrete members varies among specimens even when the same materials are used. The variation of localized FRP stiffness and concrete strength can be combined in a single parameter as variation of the localized interfacial fracture energy. In an effort to effectively model the effects of the variation of interfacial fracture energy on the load versus deflection responses of FRP bonded concrete specimens subjected to Mode I and Mode II loading, a random white noise using a one-dimensional standard Brownian motion is added to the governing equations, yielding stochastic differential equations. By solving these stochastic equations, the bounds of load carrying capacity variation with 95% probability are found for different experimental tests.