Fatigue Characteristics of CFS-Reinforced RC Slabs Sustaining Running Vibration Loads and Running Constant Loads

The repair verified experimentally the fatigue resistance of the CFS reinforcement of a crack-damaged RC slab subjected to a period of stress. The CFS reinforcement significantly reduced the number of equivalent cycles to fatigue failure when the slab was subjected to a running vibration load. Moreover, the S-N curve shows that the fatigue resistance of the CFS-reinforced RC slab was comparable to that of an unreinforced RC slab under a running vibration load with an amplitude equal to ±30% of the reference load and higher than that of an unreinforced RC slab under a running vibration load with an amplitude equal to ±20% of the reference load and a running constant load. A difference in the levels of the expansion joints greatly affected the fatigue resistance of the CFS-reinforced RC slabs. It is important to maintain the slabs so that the difference in the levels of the expansion joints is below 20 mm.