Strengthening of damaged out of plane curved reinforced concrete beam using carbon fiber reinforced polymer

Abstract

Curved major structures will get cracks and it will be costly and difficult to replace. So retrofitting technique in this paper will enable the engineers to retrofit these beams without replacing them. This experimental study aims at investigating the behaviour of damaged curved Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams strengthened with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) sheets. Two sets of curved RC beam specimens, with 4000 mm radii were used. The beams were pre cracked and repaired by using epoxy grout prior to strengthening. The beams were retrofitted using an alternative bond arrangement of Near Surface Mounted (NSM) CFRP sheets. The specimens were tested under four-point bending test method. On average 51% increase in flexural gain was observed from retrofitted beams with respect to non-cracked control samples.