Reinforced concrete corbels strengthened with external prestressing

Abstract Reinforced concrete structures may demand, throughout their lifetime, the increase of the capacity load due to eventual changes in the load configuration. In this context, corbels could be considered structural elements which present great challenges for installing strengthening solutions. The referred difficulty is due to the fact that the strength capacity of this kind of element is dependent on the strength of a diagonal concrete strut and a tensile steel tie, both located in a very short region also subjected to interferences. In the present paper, the behavior of reinforced concrete corbels strengthened with external prestressing is investigated. For that, nonlinear analysis of short corbels (a/d ratio between 0,5 and 1,0), strengthened or not, have been applied. Also, analytical models based on the Strut-and-Tie Model were developed and the obtained results were compared with experimental results. The obtained results have demonstrated that strengthening reinforced concrete corbels using external prestressing is a fast, efficient and safe solution.