The use of fiber reinforced polymer
(FRP) for strengthening
concrete structures has grown rapidly during the past
few years. In spite of exhibiting superior properties, the safety of usage is
questionable as FRP undergoes brittle debonding failures. Amongst the reported
failure modes of FRP strengthened
concrete beams, there has been limited
research in terms of intermediate crack induced interfacial debonding and fewer
strength models are developed for predicting such failures. It is suggested
that conducting a simple shear test on the FRP bonded to concrete substrate can
simulate this type of failure mode. This paper is a study of the existing
experimental and
analytical work done to understand the failure mode of FRP
bonded concrete. Twelve specimens were tested to study the influence of
concrete strength and the amount of FRP on the ultimate load capacity of
FRP-concrete bond under direct shear. Existing experimental work was collected
from literature and consists of an extensive database of 351 concrete prisms
bonded to FRP and tested in direct shear. The analytical models from various
sources are applied to this database and the results are presented.