Flexural behavior of concrete beams reinforced with CFRP prestressed prisms

An experimental investigation on the behaviour of concrete beams reinforced with various reinforcement, including ordinary steel bars, CFRP bars and CFRP prestressed concrete prisms(PCP). The main variable in the test program was the level of prestress and the cross section of PCP.The modes of failure and the crack width were observed. The results of load-deflection and load-crack width characteristics were discussed. The results showed that the CFRP prestressed concrete prisms as flexural reinforcement of concrete beams could limit deflection and crack width under service load and PCP can overcome the serviceability problems associated with the low elastic modulus/strength ratio of CFRP.