A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE RETROFITTING OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS UNDER FLEXURAL LOADING

The most used construction material next to natural soil is cement. The versatility of cement being readily useable with a quick and easy preparation even by a novice labour to cast to any desired shapes and sizes along with its ability to gain strength early and excellent resistance to water has made it a widely used construction material [1]. The structures that were constructed in the earlier decades are slowly getting deteriorated due to weathering and the structures that were constructed recently are also distressed and deteriorated for which the reasons may be increased industrialization, intensive environmental pollution, increase in the exhaust smoke from traffic vehicles, extreme reversal of hot and cold climates, etc. A faster rate of deterioration of structures is seen and the reliable estimates of deterioration and the best suited materials for retrofitting are not available in India. Though a large number of repair materials are available in the market, their effectiveness has to be established. In this study, experimental investigations are made to examine the structural behavior of Reinforced concrete beams under flexural loading and compared with that of retrofitted beams thereafter.