This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation on the load bearing capacity of 6.5m-long RC beams strengthened with prestressed CFRP strips with gradient anchorage. This technique eventually leaves a purely concrete-epoxy-strip connection without any remaining mechanical devices such as bolts or plates. Laboratory tests were carried out in the framework of an industry-based R&D project.

Experimental testing consisted of a 6-point static loading procedure on four simply supported beams. Experimental results, such as force-deflection, force-strain curves, and failure modes, are presented. In a second step, a non-commercial finite element code is presented and applied to the previously presented testing configuration. Finally, the experimental results and the corresponding numerical simulations are compared.