High-speed pullout behavior of deep-mounted CFRP strips bonded with a flexible adhesive to clay brick masonry

Abstract

An experimental campaign was initiated to determine the high-speed pullout behavior of deep-mounted carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips bonded with a flexible, visco-elasto-plastic adhesive to clay brick masonry. A total of 14 direct pull-tests were conducted. Strong correlations were found between both the pull-out strength/bonded length relation and the pull-out strength/loading rate relation. The governing failure mechanism was either cohesive failure combined with brick splitting, or CFRP rupture without significant damage to the masonry prism. From the strain gauge readings, multiple bond-slip correlations were constructed and eventually generalized and simplified to a global, multi-linear bond-slip relation. Using the global bond-slip law as part of a partial-interaction analysis resulted in a good fit with the experimental results. Finally, the results of this study were compared to previous direct pull-tests found in literature, showing that the application of a flexible adhesive results in higher interfacial fracture energy and higher debonding slip.