Study of Simplified Shear Capacity Prediction Equations for Steel Beams Strengthened Using Composite Stiffeners

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-1-2026

Abstract

The use of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) materials to strengthen concrete structures has surged during the past few decades as an alternative for conventional strengthening methods. FRP materials are light and relatively easy to install, noncorrosive, durable and less vulnerable to environmental conditions in comparison to alternative materials. The knowledge and applications of composites for strengthening steel structures are limited in comparison. Strengthening-By-Stiffening (SBS) is a strengthening technique in which pultruded FRP stiffeners were found to be capable of inhibiting local buckling in shear-controlled steel beams. This technique relies on the out-of-plane stiffness of pultruded composite sections as opposed to the in-plane strength of thin composites that is often reported in the literature. Preliminary results showed that gains in shear strength of more than 40% are achievable using SBS. In this study, a coefficient for the efficiency of as compared to steel stiffeners is investigated as a simple way for predicting the capacity of FRP stiffened members using SBS strengthening. A nonlinear finite element (FE) model was first validated using experimental results. A parametric investigation followed to cover the effects of bonding area between pultruded Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GRFP) stiffener and the web of steel plate girders in addition to the effect of web slenderness and the aspect ratio of the shear panel. The parametric studies show that the predicted shear capacity of the SBS beams was almost identical with the shear capacity of steel stiffened beams.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering

First Page

524

Last Page

533

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