A numerical study on the crack-induced dynamic characteristic degradation of FRP-plated RC structural components

The present study investigates the crack-induced degradation of vibration characteristics in FRP-strengthened reinforced concrete elements. Specifically, an innovative numerical method, based on the combination of an inter-element fracture approach and an embedded truss model, has been implemented into a 2D finite element framework to evaluate the progressive variation of the static and dynamic properties as the damage level increases. The obtained results have been compared with those obtained from the structural analysis performed on a reinforced concrete beam without the FRP system (denoted as control beam). The comparison highlights the reliability of the proposed model in determining both static response, in terms of the load-deflection curve, and dynamic response, in terms of degradation of natural vibration frequencies, for progressive damage levels. Moreover, the “Modal Assurance Criterion” (MAC) has been evaluated as an indicator to compute the correlation between the modal shapes in the damaged configurations and the undamaged ones.