Highways and Transportation authorities worldwide are facing major challenges in their highway infrastructure as many of their bridges are in urgent need of rehabilitation as a result of an increased volume of traffic, upgrading of service loads and chloride induced deterioration. Thousands of bridges in Europe and the UK. if not strengthened within the next couple of years, are in danger of facing weight restrictions as a result of the 40 tonne European directive requirements.

This paper briefly introduces work undertaken under the ROBUST research project which has been looking into the uses of advanced composite materials, in particular uni-directional carbon fibre and glass fibre composite plates, for strengthening reinforced and prestressed concrete bridges and buildings in flexure. The role of the finite element method in predicting the measured experimental results carried out in the project and its reliability in generating much needed design data, thus forming part of the process of developing practical design rules and guidelines for use of these new materials in the construction industry, are discussed. Some of the problems associated with prediction of nonlinear behaviour of cracked reinforced and prestressed concrete beams using the finite element method are examined. The results obtained from finite element analysis and experimental tests are compared and a series of recommendations are made.

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