Analytical investigation on the impact response of FRP-retrofitted RC slabs

This study aims to analytically investigate the impact response of FRP-retrofitted RC slabs. In this regard, based on the orthotropic plate theories, an applicable formulation is derived to assess the displacement of simply supported RC slabs due to the applied impact loading induced by dropping an impactor. The results have then been compared with the experimental data available in the literature. The proposed analytical formulation is proved to be reliable and efficacious to an extent that the displacement can be attained up to seven percent error. The effect of number of FRP layers and compressive reinforcement ratio have also been examined on the impact response of FRP-retrofitted RC slabs. The results indicate that adding 7 layers of GFRP strips to the bottom face of the RC slabs can attenuate the displacement values up to 33 percent. Moreover, the effect of compressive reinforcements on improving the impact response of RC slabs was estimated to be 30 and 23 percent, respectively, for RC slabs being examined.