Application of Soft Computing to Reinforced Concrete Beams Strengthened with Fibre Reinforced Polymers: A State-of-the-Art Review

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In recent decades, fibre reinforced polymers (FRBs) have been widely used as reinforcing composite material in concrete structures. These materials are made from a polymer matrix reinforced with fibre. FRPs are commonly used for retrofitting and strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Soft computing refers to a family of computing techniques particularly adapted to cope with a class of problems for which other techniques were not quite well suited. Most efforts in the application of soft computing in FRP-strengthened RC beams focus on capacity, damage or prediction of physical changes. Two different distinct methods are explored in the majority of studies. In the first method, the studies are based on neural networks and in the second one, fuzzy systems are used. In additional, the general performance of prediction which is done based on soft computing for the subject indicates that the methodology yields good results. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review for the design, using soft computing, of the strengthening of reinforced concrete beams by attaching fibre reinforced polymer strips.

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