FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF TWO-WAY RC SLABS RETROFITTED WITH BASALT FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER (BFRP)

Many older structures are in the need of strengthening the existing civil engineered infrastructure. The reasons are deterioration by ageing or corrosion caused by environmental factors, increase in the load because of changes in the functioning of the structure or poor design which does not meet the current limit state design requirements such as in dynamic loading scenario. The most practical solutions for retrofitting are often those that minimize the risk of structural collapse which can be done by upgrading selected critical structural components. Usage of fiberreinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement in structural engineering has getting more attention because of high tensile strength, light weight and non-corrosive property and many more advantages of it. As a new type of FRP material, Basalt Fiber Reinforced polymer (BFRP) have been receiving great attention in civil infrastructure, due to their excellent mechanical and chemical properties and its low price. BFRP is a new innovative material with high-tech inorganic fiber structure and functional material which in turn is a typical energy saving FRP. BFRP is the only FRP, which is inorganic with high tensile strength. The experimental work was conducted on slabs to study the effect of BFRP on flexural behavior of the slabs under the static loads, using cross wrapping technique. The BFRP was to be introduced to slabs in the form of cross wrapping at flexural zone by wet lay-up technique. Control slabs were casted and tested after 28 days under uniformly distributed loading case. Strengthened slabs were tested after 6 days of strengthening. From the experimental results it was revealed that the initial crack strength and ultimate load strength of retrofitted slabs are found to be increasing by at least 40% comparatively and stiffness of wrapping slabs are found to be increase.