FLEXURAL STRENGTHENING OF PCC BEAMS WITH VARYING FIBER DENSITIES OF CARBON FIBER FABRICS

Abstract

Strengthening of concrete structures has become ineludible due to unavoidable factors such as fatigue and aggressive environmental conditions causing deterioration of concrete structures. Many researchers are turning their direction for use of various high strength and high performance concretes due to their high structural and durability properties, for the purpose of repair and strengthening of concrete structures against these aggressive conditions. One of the rehabilitation methods was used in this study which involves strengthening of structural members using CFRP fabrics. An experimental work was carried out to investigate the behavior of PC beams flexurally strengthened using the CFRP fabric. Twenty Seven beams were tested using fiber fabric of different densities with three different epoxy resins. Three reference beams without CFRP were used as control specimens. The experimental results show that CFRP fabric with epoxy resin as an adhesive significantly increases flexural strength of plain concrete specimens. Furthermore, the high tensile strength of the CFRP was effectively mobilized. By increasing the CFRP density, the load carrying capacity of beams increased but the failure was due to debonding of CFRP fabric. Expressions were also obtained from curves plotted for different epoxy resins used in the study.

Keywords: CFRP Fabrics, PC beams, flexural strength, epoxy resin, density.