Flexural Strengthening Of Reinforced Concrete Beams Using Fabric Reinforced Cementitious Matrix Systems

Abstract

This thesis is an experimental study performed to investigate the effectiveness of near surface embedded (NSE) and the hybrid near surface embedded externally bonded (NSE/EB) fabric reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) systems for flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams in flexure. A total of twenty beams were prepared with the consideration of three test parameters: (a) FRCM material (polyparaphenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO)/carbon/glass); (b) strengthening technique (externally bonded (EB), NSE and NSE/EB); and (c) the longitudinal reinforcement ratio (0.5% representing flexure-deficient beams and 1.28% representing typical under-reinforced beams). The results show that NSE strengthening provides improved bond behavior between FRCM composite and concrete substrate. The strengthening led to gains in ultimate flexural loads ranging between 30.1% and 108.6%. It was concluded that both NSE and NSE/EB are a valid strengthening alternative to the traditional EB strengthening