Use of high strength technical textiles in strengthening of reinforced concrete structural elements

A structure may show sign of deterioration earlier than its design life due to poor designing, change in the occupancy of the structure and the damage caused by abnormal and accidental loading. In order to avoid economic loss, the structural elements i.e. beams, slabs, columns are usually retrofitted and/or strengthened such that they can withstand the applied load during their operational life. Among many strengthening techniques used, use of high strength technical textiles, more commonly referred as fiber reinforced polymers (Carbon, Glass, Aramid, Kevlar, etc.) have proved to be beneficial in improving the overall performance of the ageing and damaged structural elements. Therefore, in this investigation, aim was to study the behaviour of the reinforced concrete beams and columns externally wrapped with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) fabrics under static loading. For this purpose, different types of wrapping techniques were adopted to strengthen reinforced concrete (RC) columns and beams with CFRP wraps. The uniaxial compression tests were carried out on the columns investigated, whereas, four-point loading setup was used for the RC beams. Based on the detailed investigation, it was observed that the use of CFRP wraps proved to be significantly beneficial in improving the overall performance of beams and columns, as load carrying capacity, ductility and stiffness exhibited by CFRP wrapped specimens were found to be higher when compared with identical specimens without CFRP wraps.