Strengthening of existing reinforced concrete structures using ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete

Abstract

Most of the new Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures which are built nowadays have a high safety level. Nevertheless, we cannot claim the same for structures built in the past. Many of these were designed without any regulations, or are based on those which have proved to be inadequate. Additionally, it seems that many old structures have reached the end of their service life and, in many cases, were designed to carry loads significantly lower than the current needs specify. Therefore, the structural evaluation and intervention are considered necessary, so they can meet the same requirements as the structures which are built today. Existing techniques for the strengthening and retrofitting of RC structures present crucial disadvantages which are mainly related to the ease of application, the high cost, the time it takes to be applied, the relocation of the tenants during the application of the technique and the poor performance. Research is now focused on new techniques which combine strength, cost effectiveness and ease of application. The superior mechanical properties of Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) compared to conventional concrete, together with the ease of preparation and application of the material, make the application of UHPFRC in the field of strengthening of RC structures attractive. The present research aims to investigate the effectiveness of UHPFRC as a strengthening material, and to examine if the material is able to increase the load carrying capacity of existing RC elements. This has been achieved through an extensive experimental and numerical investigation. The first part of the present research is focused on the experimental investigation of the properties of the material which are missing from the literature and the development of a mixture design which can be used for strengthening applications. The second part is focused on the realistic application of the material for the strengthening of existing RC elements using different strengthening configurations. Finally, in the last part, certain significant parameters of the examined technique, which are mainly related to the design of the technique, are investigated numerically. From the experimental and numerical investigation of the present research it was clear that UHPFRC is a material with enhanced properties and the strengthening with UHPFRC is a well promising technique. Therefore, in all the examined cases, the performance of the strengthened elements was improved. Finally, an important finding of the present research was that the bonding between UHPFRC and concrete is effective with low values of slip at the interface.

Date of Award	2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton