Study and Experimental Investigation on Flexural Behavior of Gfrp Wrapping in Concrete Members

Abstract

Concrete materials are still a dominant material for construction due to its advantages such as workability, low cost and fire resistance as well as its low maintenance cost. It is formed from a hardened mixture of cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate, water and some admixture. Nowadays research efforts are continuously looking for new, better and efficient construction material and method. The present-day world is witnessing the construction of very challenging and difficult civil engineering structures. To meet up the needs of advance infrastructure, new innovative materials and technologies are invented and used to overcome the earlier drawbacks. Efforts are being made in the field of concrete technology to prepare and develop concrete with composites. One such technique is adding fibre reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) as external reinforcement. The use of fibre reinforced polymer for structural strengthening and rehabilitation is becoming more popular due to its high strength to weight ratio, good fatigue life, good corrosion resistance and low maintenance cost. The fibre reinforced polymer laminates are introduced to enhance the strength and ductility. The addition of randomly distributed discrete fibres to the structural concrete increases its stiffness, ductility and load carrying capacity with reduced cracks. Fibres are effective in arresting both micro and macro cracks. The main focus of this investigation is to examine the efficiency of discrete GFRP wraps in improving the strength of beams. An experimental investigation was carried out on a beam with and without retrofitting.