Feasibility of textile fabrics for strengthening of concrete column

Abstract

Renovation and rehabilitation of concrete structures become inevitable when structures reach their service life. Rehabilitation or strengthening of concrete structures using fiber reinforced polymers and textile reinforced mortar are the most common and effective methodologies. However, these rehabilitation techniques are expensive hence cheaper alternatives need to be explored for sustainable concrete structures. Current research program was planned to investigate the efficiency and effectiveness of textile reinforced mortar using locally available textile fabrics on upgrading structural performance of concrete columns. Six locally available fabrics were characterized to select best fabrics for strengthening of concrete columns. Plain Concrete Columns (PCC) were strengthened using epoxy and mortar and selected fabrics with different number of layers. All specimens were tested under uniaxial compression. Results revealed that an increase in axial load carrying capacity ranging between 32% and 58% can be achieved using fabrics along with epoxy. On replacing epoxy with cement mortar, a further increase of up to 23% can be achieved under specific conditions. The use of three layers of textile fabrics might be considered effective as on addition of further layers, the strength gain is not significant. The presented results indicate that the use of textile fabrics may prove to be a promising method of upgrading column’s structural performance.