Strengthening of concrete beams using cementitious carbon fibre composites

Sammanfattning: The research described in this thesis deals with the use ofcement-based carbon fibre reinforced composites forstrengthening of existing structural concrete.There is a large world-wide need for simple and reliablemethods to repair and strengthen aging infrastructure andbuildings. The use of cementitious fi- bre composites offersseveral advantages over the existing methods. No other work onstrengthening of structural concrete with cementitiouscomposites reinforced with continuous high strength fibres wasidentified when the present work started in 1998. At presenttime, 2003, it still is a new technique and very littleresearch has been internationally reported. This work includesa literature survey describing the state of the art of thestrengthening of structural concrete with cement based fibrereinforced composites.Due to the novelty of this technique no specially adaptedmaterials are available and ready for use in cementitiouscomposites. In order to make many small scale tests to optimizethe composite, a new test beam has been developed. Severalparameter studies have been done in this work to determine howdifferent parameters, for example fineness of grading of thecement, additives, and fibre configuration affect thecomposite.Large scale tests of ordinary concrete beams strengthenedwith a cementitious fibre composite are reported. The compositeused was made of a polymer modified mortar and a unidirectionalsheet of continuous carbon fibres, applied by hand. Bothflexural strengthening and shear strengthening were tested. Arelatively new method for measuring strains with digitalcameras was used on the shear strengthenings with a goodresult. It is concluded that the large scale tests have proventhat this method works and has great potential for futureuse.Design methods for strengthenings were studied andevaluated. It is concluded that design methods formulated forstrengthening of structural concrete with carbon fibrereinforced polymers can be adapted also to cementitiouscomposites by introducing an efficiency factor.