| Fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) have been proposed as concrete reinforcement due to their high strength, non-corroding and non-conducting properties.;The testing was done in three sets of beams: Set I was based on the steel reinforcement code requirement; Set II was subjected to a load that exceeded the allowable dead load at the time of prestress failure and at an applied load that would yield the steel supplementary reinforcing; and Set III was subjected to a load that exceeded the allowable dead load, but this load was immediately released. A set of non-prestressed control beams and smaller ancillary beams were also tested to investigate the influence of strain rates on flexural load capacity. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).;This thesis presents the results of six, 3--m post-tensioned reinforced concrete beams that incorporate secondary reinforcement. The secondary reinforcement, composed of either 2-No.10 steel or 2-GFRP rods, was designed to sustain the unfactored dead loads. An unbonded steel rod was used to post-tension the reinforced concrete beams. While the beam sustained an applied load, the prestressing in the rod was released to simulate the non-performance of an equivalent FRP tendon. |
