Concrete Beams Prestressed with CFRP Strands

The behaviour of prestressed concrete beams reinforced with CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced plastic) strands was investigated and compared to prestressed concrete elements using conventional steel. In an initial phase, a large number of tests were carried out on statically determinate rectangular beams, slab-strips and T-beams. One test beam was prestressed using steel strands for comparison with beams having the same basic structure, but prestressed using CFRP strands. The most important parameters were tested, such as prestressing with and without bonding, as well as static and regularly repeated loads. The current paper summarises the most important research results.