One
of the strengthening techniques is epoxy bonded external
reinforcement. The
additional reinforcement often
exists of steel plates or carbon fiber
reinforced polymer (CFRP). Steel plates have a low material cost but are heavy.
On the contrary, CFRP is a lightweight, high strength flexible composite which
can be easily applied. Steel plates are used for deformation problems and CFRP
when the high strength or the flexibility of the fibers can be exploited. Steel
cord reinforced polymer (SCRP) is a new material that consists of thin,
uni-directional high-strength steel fibers. This innovative composite is
intended to combine the advantages of steel plates and CFRP: the material cost
can be relatively low compared to CFRP. Moreover, it can be flexible and SCRP
can be as strong as CFRP. In this paper, the search for a prototype of SCRP is
presented. Different types of SCRP are investigated to develop an optimal type
of SCRP for the application as externally bonded shear
reinforcement. The
feasibility requirements, material lay-out, test set up and results and the
resulting SCRP choice are outlined.