NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE PUNCHING BEHAVIOR OF RC FLAT SLABS STRENGTHENING BY TRM AND FRP

In this paper, the effectiveness of textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) and fiberreinforced polymer (FRP), as a means of improving the punching behavior of reinforced concrete flat slabs were numerically investigated. Finite element (FE) model using ABAQUS computer program was developed to analyze eight half-scaled slabs, in terms of load-carrying capacity, ductility, stiffness, and crack patterns. These eight specimens were divided into two groups (G1 and G2) with four specimens for each of them. Specimens of G1 was similar to that of G2 in all details but differ in the eccentricity of the applied load. Specimens of G1 were tested with concentric load, while these of G2 were tested with 150 mm eccentricity. For each group, one specimen was built as control (unstrengthened), one was strengthened by FRP-sheet, and the other two was strengthened by TRM-jacket with two different mesh opening (10 and 20 mm). The results obtained from FE analysis showed that the efficiency of TRM in increasing the punching shear capacity of strengthened slabs was less than that of FRP. In addition, the slabs strengthened by TRM showed stiffer behavior than that strengthened by FRP, but lesser ductile. TRM effectiveness was sensitive to the mesh size of the textile. When the mesh size decreased, stiffness was increased and ductility was decreased.