Upon drying of the steel beam and the CFRP sheets, the tack
coat was mixed and applied to the tension flange surface and the
sheets. The cut at midspan were also filled with adhesive. All
pieces were covered with uniform and thin layers of tack coat and
were squeezed together to force the air pockets out with excess
epoxy. The CFRP sheets were secured throughout their lengths
using binder clips and 4034033 mm aluminum angle bars, while
the tack coat was curing. After two hours, the extra epoxy around
the bond area was scraped off. A typical retrofitted specimen is
shown in Fig. 3.