Repair and Strengthening of Damaged RC Beams using Ferrocement Laminates

The deterioration of concrete structures might be due to ageing, poor maintenance, corrosion due to poor environmental conditions and accidental situations like earthquakes. The need to upgrade the deteriorated civil engineering infrastructure greatly enhances with the ever increasing demands. Therefore rehabilitating and retrofitting civil engineering infrastructure has been identified as important issue to be addressed. In this research paper, the methods of strengthening of reinforced concrete beams using ferrocement laminates are reviewed. Investigation into the methods of anchorage of the ferrocement laminates in the strengthened beams, methods of increasing the ultimate load of the original beams using ferrocement laminate and control the cracking behavior of the beams and the effect of the damage of the original beams prior for repair are examined. The results show that the strengthened beams have performed better in cracking behavior, reduction in mid span deflection and increased in the ultimate load and the pre cracked beams prior to repair did not affect the ultimate loads of the strengthened beams tested. A large number of civil infrastructures around the world are in a state of serious deterioration today due to carbonation, chloride attack, etc. Moreover many civil structures are no longer considered safe due to increase load specifications in the design codes or due to overloading or due to under design of existing structures or due to lack of quality control. In order to maintain efficient serviceability, older structures must be repaired or strengthened so that they meet the same requirements demanded of structures built today and in future. It is becoming both environmentally and economically preferable to repair or strengthen the structures rather than replacement, particularly if rapid, effective and simple strengthening methods are available 1 3 . Different types of cement based materials are available in market for that job. However due to higher tensile strength to weight ratio and a degree of toughness, ductility, durability and cracking resistance that is considerably greater than those found in other conventional cement based materials Ferrocement, is ideally suited as an alternative strengthening component for the rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures 4 7 . According to the ACI Committee 549, Ferrocement is a type of thin wall reinforced concrete commonly constructed of hydraulic cement mortal reinforced with closely spaced layers of continuous and relatively small wire diameter mesh. Paramasivam et al. 8 reported that the purpose of the fine mesh was simply for crack control and was not relied upon to contribute to the structural strength of the member. Ferrocement laminates with skeletal bar can take significant role in strengthening reinforced concrete beams. For flexural strengthening, the ferrocement laminates were cast onto the soffit tension face of the beams without any change in width of the beams. In this study, the strengthening of simply supported reinforced concrete beams using ferrocement laminate attached onto the soffit was investigated. R. Murugaboopathy "Repair and Strengthening of Damaged RC Beams using Ferrocement Laminates" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-5 , August 2020, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd32966.pdf Paper Url :https://www.ijtsrd.com/engineering/civil-engineering/32966/repair-and-strengthening-of-damaged-rc-beams-using-ferrocement-laminates/r-murugaboopathy