Experimental Investigation on Flexural Behavior of Concrete Slabs Reinforced With Prefabricated GFRP Grating

The objective of the current work is to investigate design options for a composite concrete slab without the use offerrous materials but with relatively high stiffness. Such a target can be achieved by replacing the steelreinforcement of concrete slabs molded glass FRP (GFRP) structural sections (pultruded GFRP gratingsections). The composite action between the FRP structural shapes and the concrete aims to reduce the previousobserved high deformation when FRP rebar were used in the concrete. An experimental investigation wasconducted to study the applicability and behavior of molded GFRP grating as a reinforcement of one-wayconcrete slabs and compare its behavior with that of concrete slab reinforced by steel rebar.Four medium-scale specimens were cast and tested under 3 point flexural loading. The first two specimens wereused as control concrete slabs reinforced using same amount of reinforcing steel rebar. The third and fourthspecimens were concrete slab reinforced using same amount of FRP grating. The test results indicated thefeasibility of using pultruded fiberglass grating in resisting bending and shear stresses with reasonable ductility.