Experimental study on flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete beams with U-shaped steel under secondary load

This study proposes a new method to strengthen reinforced concrete (RC) beams with U-shaped steel, which can achieve rapid construction and great improvement in the flexural performance of RC beams. To investigate the influence of secondary load defined as newly applied loads after strengthening on the strengthening effect, a total of nine specimens were tested under four-point bending, including a reference beam, a strengthened beam under initial load, and seven strengthened beams under secondary load. The initial loading degree, the thickness of the bottom plate, and the height of the steel box were the main variables considered in this study. Testing results showed that compared with the reference beam, the flexural performance of strengthened beams was significantly enhanced, indicating the good joint performance of the U-shaped steel and the RC beams. Among the three main variables, the initial loading degree was found to have a minimal effect on the flexural performance while the thickness of the bottom plate and the height of the steel box had considerable influence, with the latter having a more pronounced effect. Testing results also showed that most of the strengthened beams experienced flexural failures, which were reflected by steel web peeling and buckling, and concrete crushing. Moreover, a formula was derived for calculating the flexural capacity of strengthened beams under secondary load. The results from the derived formula were found to be in good agreement with those from experiments.