Abstract
The upgrade and reconstructing of the reinforced concrete (RC) buildings/structures are still some of the biggest challenges in construction and infrastructural development across the globe. Conventionally the fiber reinforced composites has been used for this purpose. But their use is often constrained by issues to do with cost, environmental unfriendliness and some shortcoming related to epoxy adhesives most of which include poor heat resistance. This work seeks to explore this problem by comparing the feasibility of using a locally available and cheaper geopolymer adhesive paste. The experimental work includes the seven RC columns confined with seven fiber-reinforced geopolymer adhesive jackets using different materials such as carbon fiber, jute fiber, steel wire mesh, window mesh fabric and polyethylene meshes having a weave of 3×3 mm & 4×4 mm.The result shows that geopolymer adhesive paste is a viable solution of bond several confinement material. In the tested jackets, carbon fiber had the best performance with enhanced load-bearing capacity 3.146 times and deformation capacity 3.68 times of unconfined RC columns. However, the cost of this system stands at $34 per square meter and is therefore the most expensive option. In contrast, jute fiber and steel wire mesh jackets offered better cost-effective solution with remarkable performance augmentations where load improvement ratios of 1.79 and 1.7 along with deformation capacities of 2.43 and 16.2 were realised. Based on the study, fiber reinforced geopolymer adhesive jackets can be recommended for strengthening and reconstruction of RC columns in regions with elevated temperature since epoxy systems are not convenient in such an environment. The findings of this research show that geopolymer adhesives for structural repair and strengthening have resource, cost, and environmental benefits.
Published Version
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