No. 23. - Third fib Congress Proceedings - Vol. 2. - June 5-8, 2006 - Naples, Italy - Condensed Papers - Session 10-20

Owing to the attractive features of FRP materials such as high strength, lightweight, corrosion resistance, and good constructability, innovative FRP reinforcement techniques are increasingly being adopted in construction to replace former reinforcing methods. This trend is promising for wider applications of such materials.

To date, no major problems have arisen from the application of steel plate bonding methods and methods involving the increase of cross-section using conventional materials, in terms of safety and serviceability, according to current criteria and experimental methods.

However, since FRP reinforcement methods make use of innovative materials with fundamentally different properties, the application of existing design criteria appears to be delicate. Moreover, even when reinforcement is carried out using FRP, the desired strengthening effect cannot always be achieved, and this may also lead to serious safety problems.