Bond properties of steel and sand-coated GFRP bars in Alkali activated cement concrete

The bond performance of glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars and that of steel bars embedded in Alkali Activated Cement (AAC) concrete are analysed and compared using pull-out specimens. The bond failure modes, the average bond strength and the free end bond stress-slip curves are used for comparison. Tepfer’s concrete ring model is used to further analyse the splitting failure in ribbed steel bar and GFRP bar specimens. The angle the bond forces make with the bar axis was calculated and used for comparing bond behaviour of ribbed steel bar and GFRP bars in AAC concrete. The results showed that bond failure mode plays a significant role in the comparison of the average bond stress of the specimens at failure. In case of pull-out failure mode, specimens with ribbed steel bars showed a higher bond strength while specimens with GFRP bars showed a higher bond stress in case of splitting failure mode. Comparison of the bond stress-slip curves of ribbed steel bars and GFRP bars depicted that the constant bond stress region at the peak is much smaller in case of GFRP bars than ribbed steel bars indicating a basic bond mechanism difference in GFRP and ribbed steel bars.