Analytical approach for predicting full torsional behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with FRP materials

A new computational procedure is developed to predict the full torsional response of reinforcedconcrete beams strengthened with fiber reinforced plastics (frps), based on the softened membranemodel for torsion (smmt). for validating the proposed analytical model, torque-twist curves obtainedfrom current theoretical approaches are compared with experimental ones for both solid and hollowrectangular sections. the good agreement results of this comparison show that the proposed analyticalmodel is reliable for predicting the torsional behavior of frp-strengthened reinforced concrete beamsbefore and after cracking. by means of the developed approach, the power of the smmt method, inextending to frp-strengthened reinforced concrete beams, is demonstrated in this paper. moreover, thecontribution of frp fabrics to the torsional response, as an external bonded reinforcement, is studied invarious practical strengthening configurations. therefore, the efficiency of each configuration is illustratedas well.