The College of Engineering at the University of Baghdad held the public defence of a master’s thesis by Ibrahim Hayder Mohsin from the Department of Civil Engineering on Tuesday, 8 September 2026. The thesis, entitled “Structural Behaviour of One-Way Reinforced Concrete Slabs Strengthened with Carbon Fibres and Patch Anchors,” was supervised by Dr. Alaa Mosa Jawad Al-Mosawe and defended in Dr. Khalid Shakir Hall.

The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of patch anchors in enhancing the structural performance of one-way reinforced concrete slabs strengthened with carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. In particular, it examined the role of these anchors in delaying strip debonding, improving the utilisation of the strengthening material, and increasing the load-carrying capacity and flexural performance of the slabs.

The experimental programme involved testing nine reinforced concrete slabs under four-point bending. The specimens included an unstrengthened control slab, slabs strengthened with CFRP strips without anchors, and slabs incorporating patch anchors with varying configurations and dimensions. The research assessed the effects of these variables on load-carrying capacity, deflection, crack propagation, fibre strain distribution, and failure mechanisms. In addition, numerical models were developed using ABAQUS, and their predictions were compared with the experimental findings.

The results demonstrated that patch anchors effectively delayed the debonding of CFRP strips and enhanced their anchorage, resulting in improved ultimate load-carrying capacity and a more uniform distribution of fibre strains compared with slabs strengthened without anchors. Furthermore, the use of anchors altered the failure mechanism from strip debonding to fibre rupture in the anchored specimens. The numerical simulations also showed good agreement with the experimental results, confirming their effectiveness in predicting the structural response of the investigated slabs.

Following the evaluation of the thesis and the researcher’s defence, the examination committee awarded Ibrahim Hayder Mohsin a grade of Excellent, in recognition of the quality of his research and its findings.