This paper presents a closed-form procedure to evaluate the shear strength
contribution provided to a Reinforced Concrete (RC) beam by a system of Near
Surface Mounted (NSM) Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) strips. This procedure is
based on the evaluation of: a) the constitutive law of the
average-available-bond-length NSM FRP strip effectively crossing the shear crack
and b) the maximum effective capacity it can attain during the loading process of the
strengthened beam. Due to complex phenomena, such as: a) interaction between
forces transferred through bond to the surrounding concrete and concrete fracture,
and b) interaction among adjacent strips, the NSM FRP strip constitutive law is
largely different than the linear elastic one characterizing the FRP behavior in
tension. Once the constitutive law of the average-available-bond-length NSM strip is
reliably known, its maximum effective capacity can be determined by imposing a
coherent kinematic mechanism. The self-contained and ready-to-implement set of
analytical equations and logical operations is presented along with the main
underlying physical-mechanical principles and assumptions. The formulation
proposed is appraised against some of the most recent experimental results and its
predictions are also compared with those obtained by a recently developed more
sophisticated model.(undefined