| The latest surveys of existing concrete parking structures in Canada and in some parts of the United States show major deterioration in these structures due to corrosion of steel reinforcement caused primarily by deicing salts. The use of non-corrosive reinforcement instead of steel reinforcement has been suggested as a possible solution to the problem. Fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) are non-corrosive and high strength, but some of their mechanical properties, such as brittleness and relatively low modulus of elasticity when compared to steel may create problems insofar as deflections and ductility of FRP reinforced of two-way slab systems reinforced with FRP materials and subjected to monotonically increased loading.;Results of the analysis show that any of the preceding FRP's can be used without exceeding the current deflection requirements in the Code. The issue of ductility is more complex, but FRP reinforced slabs undergo significant amount of deflection prior to failure. Overall the study supports the feasibility of replacing steel by FRP in two-way slabs as flat slab/plate structures.;The investigation deals with the performance of two-way FRP reinforced slab systems, with particular emphasis on flat slab structures. The FRP's considered in the study included carbon, glass and aramid fibre reinforced plastic reinforcment. Specifically, the load-deflection behaviour throughout the entire range of loading, stresses in the concrete and in the reinforcement under service loads, as well as at ultimate, are determined and compared with similar structures reinforced with steel. The nonlinear finite element method was employed to perform the analyses. |
