Abstract
Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) material has a high strength-to-weight ratio and good resistance to corrosion and environmental attacks. It has been widely used in rehabilitation of aged infrastructure. However, the durability of the strengthened system has not been yet assessed thoroughly since most of the previous study was conducted based on accelerated tests while the long-term investigation was less reported. This paper investigated the effect of CFRP wrapping on the axial behaviour of concrete cylinders subjected to different environments for more than 13 years. The specimens were exposed to five different conditions, including standard curing, immersion in distilled water, immersion in saturated Na2SO4 solution, outdoor sheltered from the rain, and outdoor without shelter from the rain. Axial compression tests were performed on the wrapped concrete cylinders. The load-bearing capacity and stress-strain responses were recorded. It was found that CFRP wrapping could effectively improve the ultimate strength and ductility of the columns. Though scatter existed, no significant effect of the environmental exposure on the load-bearing capacity of the cylinder specimens was observed which indicates a good durability of the strengthening system.
Highlights
When subjected to combined effects of service load and environmental attack, damage accumulation generally occurs to infrastructure, leading to deteriorated structural performance
Bae and Belarbi [9] focused more on the effect of combined environmental conditions. Both small and mid-scale reinforced concrete (RC) cylinder columns wrapped with either carbon fibrereinforced polymer (CFRP) or glass FRP (GFRP) sheets exposed to freeze-thaw cycles, high-temperature cycles, highhumidity cycles, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and saline solution were loaded by uni-axial compression
By comparing the test results listed in the third row of Table 1, the compressive strength of the CFRP confined concrete was improved by 5.4% to 123.3%, with a mean value of 85.7% and a coefficient of variation (COV) of 0.28
Summary
When subjected to combined effects of service load and environmental attack, damage accumulation generally occurs to infrastructure, leading to deteriorated structural performance. Toutanji [8] tested concrete cylinder columns wrapped with four types of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite and two types of epoxy matrix. Bae and Belarbi [9] focused more on the effect of combined environmental conditions Both small and mid-scale reinforced concrete (RC) cylinder columns wrapped with either CFRP or GFRP sheets exposed to freeze-thaw cycles, high-temperature cycles, highhumidity cycles, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and saline solution were loaded by uni-axial compression. Prediction for the axial capacity of FRP confined RC columns and strength reduction factors to account for the effects of various environmental conditions were proposed. The axial compressive behaviour of CFRP confined concrete cylinder columns exposed to five different environmental conditions was recorded up to 13 years. No significant deterioration was witnessed for the load-bearing capacity of the cylinder specimens which indicates a good durability of the strengthening system
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