Behaviour of RC beams strengthened by partial jacketing under cyclic loading

This work presents a study on the behaviour under cyclic loading of reinforced concrete beams strengthened in bending by the addition of concrete and steel on their tension side using expansion bolts as shear connectors, denominated here as partial jacketing. The experimental program included tests on six full scale reinforced concrete beams, simply supported, with rectangular cross section 150 mm wide and 400 mm high, span of 4,000 mm and total length of 4,500 mm. All the beams, after receiving two cycles of static loading in order to create a pre-cracking condition, were strengthened in bending by partial jacketing and then subjected to cyclic loading until the completion of 2 x 10(6) cycles or the occurrence of fatigue failure. Following the cyclic loading, the beams that did not fail by fatigue were subjected to a static load up to failure. The main variables were the flexural reinforcement ratio in the beam and in the jacket, the beam-jacket interface condition (smooth or rough) and cyclic load amplitude. On the basis of the obtained test results and the results of previous study of similar beams tested only under static loading, the behaviour of the strengthened beams is discussed and a proposal for their design is given.