Prefabricated Ferrocement Jacket for Repairing and Strengthening Axially Loaded Square Sub-Standard Concrete Stub Columns

Abstract

For decades, ferrocement has been used to repair, strengthen, and even build structural components because it is a long-lasting and reasonably priced material. However, onsite ferrocement jacketing is time-consuming and labour-intensive. Alternatively, prefabricated ferrocement jacket installation eliminates these shortcomings. Therefore, this study utilises wearable prefabricated ferrocement jackets to repair and strengthen axially loaded sub-standard low-strength concrete elements. In order to repair cracked specimens and strengthen existing intact specimens, two types of wearable prefabricated jackets are proposed, ‘L’ shape and ‘U’ shape. Besides a control specimen, two preloaded and two unloaded square concrete specimens were utilised to repair and strengthen using the Prefabricated Ferrocement Jacketing system. The test results and crack patterns show that all the jacketed specimens performed better than the control specimens in terms of load-bearing capacity, ultimate axial and lateral deflection, and ductility. In terms of load-bearing capacity, the unloaded strengthened specimens showed significant results consistently. Based on the results, the proposed solutions were found to be effective in solving the problem of typical square ferrocement jackets.