## 2 Materials and Methods
### Four-Point Bending of a Prototype RC T-Beam with Various Shear Retrofirring Schemes  
The full-length prototype RC T-beam described earlier (Figure 5a-c) was tested under four-point bending loading in order to quantify its shear capacity under the following four distinct stages. This prototype RC T-beam had, when tested during all four stages described in detail from (a) to (d) in what follows (Figures 5 and 10a-d), a clear span equal to 2700 mm. The central vertical load was monotonic and was applied through a stiff steel girder supported at the upper side of the T-beam at two points located 900 mm from the two end vertical supports. This vertical load was measured by a load cell located at mid-span, whereas the vertical deflections were recorded by displacement transducers at  
Figure 10: (a) 1 st strengthening scheme of R/C T-beam (see also Figures 8b and 9a). (b) 2 nd strengthening scheme of R/C T-beam (see also Figures 8c and 9b). (c) 3 rd strengthening scheme of R/C T-beam (see also Figures 8d and 9c). mid-span as well as at the two locations coinciding with the two points of applied load as indicated in Figure 5c. At this virgin stage, the prototype RC T-beam, having its east and west parts intentionally deficient in shear, was loaded prior to any shear retrofitting (Figure 5c) until the appearance of diagonal cracks, indicating that the shear capacity limit state was reached. At this 2 nd stage, the 1 st shear strengthening scheme was applied by employing the external application of open hoop CFRP strips. At the West part, four (4) 3-layer open hoop CFRP strips were employed (Figure 10a) having 0.131 mm thickness, 100 mm width, and spaced at 200 mm intervals measured from their centerline. These West part CFRP strips employed the anchor scheme of Figures 8c and 9b. At the East part, four (4) 3-layer open hoop CFRP strips were employed again, the same as at the west part of the T-beam, however, without any anchors (Figures 8b and 9a). Each CFRP strip layer was 0.131 mm thick and 100 mm wide and were spaced at 200 mm intervals measured from their centerline, as were the CFRP strips at the East part. This was carried out in order to study the debonding mode of failure for the CFRP strips attached to this part. As will be discussed in Section 4, the limit state, in this case, was the debonding of the unanchored CFRP strips of the East part. At this 3 rd stage, the 2 nd shear strengthening scheme was applied. The two debonded at the previous stage unanchored CFRP strips, located at the East part, were replaced by three closed hoop CFRP anchor rope stirrups each with a cross-section equal to 28.0 mm\({}^{2}\) (see Section 3.3). Holes were drilled in the slab of the specimens for these closed hoop ropes to go through, whereas these ropes took the shape of a CFRP strip along the webs and the bottom side of the specimen. The CFRP strips anchored with steel anchored devices at the West part were left without any modification because they did not exhibit signs of any distress during the previous stage (Figure 10b). Finally, at the 4 th stage, the 3 rd strengthening scheme was applied. It involved flexural strengthening consisting of five (5) CFRP layers (each layer being 0.131 mm thick and 120 mm wide) attached at the bottom side of the T-beam specimen, as is depicted in Figure 10c. The obtained response during all these four distinct stages for the examined prototype RC T-beam during the above four distinct stages are presented and discussed in Section 4. Measured Response from Testing the Capacity and Force Transfer Mechanism of External CFRP Shear Stirrups without or with an Anchoring Device Utilizing \"Unit T-Beam\" Specimens  
In what follows, the measured response obtained from two distinct sequences of tests employing \"unit T-beam\" specimens with various types of CFRP stirrups, with or without anchoring, is presented and discussed.