CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION:
The topic discussed here is about the experimental studies on RC beams that are retrofitted by various methods such as bolted steel plate, external plate reinforcement, side-plate reinforcement and externally bonded plates. The retrofitting of RC beams has become necessary in order to increase the durability of beams and many retrofitting techniques have been adopted till date to achieve durability in RC beams.

2.2 RETROFITTING TECHNIQUES:

The retrofitting of RC beams has been done in many ways and some of them are listed below. 2.2.1 Externally Bonded Plates and Anchorages 2.2.2 Bolting of Steel and FRP Plates 2.2.3 Epoxy Bonded Continuous Steel Plates 2.2.4 Externally Bonded SIMCON Laminates 2.2.5 Fiber Reinforced Polymer 2.2.6 External Reinforcement

2.2.1 Externally Bonded Plates and Anchorages: The strengthening of RC beam by steel plate is a widely used technique due to its availability, uniform materials properties, high ductility, high fatigue strength and cheapness. Besides, there are several disadvantages of steel plate such as the transportation, handling and corrosion of heavy plates, limited delivery lengths of plates which necessitates the work and difficulty of forming joints, the need for massive and expensive false work to hold plates in position during adhesive cure. Smith and Teng (2002) have identified some failure modes of plate bonded strengthened reinforced concrete beams. These are namely grouped under, i) Flexural failure by FRP ruptures ii) Flexural failure by crushing of compressive concrete iii) Shear failure iv) Concrete cover separation v) Plate end interfacial debonding and vi) Intermediate crack induced interfacial debonding It is also reported that, the three failure modes i.e. iv, v and vi are not found in conventional RC beams and are instead modes unique to beams bonded with a soffit plate. These modes have often been referred to as premature debonding failures modes, as they occur before the flexural failure.

A report from the researchers namely Mohd Zamin Jumaat and Md. Ashraful Alam (2008) derived the following results about the effect of anchorage on RC beams from their experiment. 1. End and intermediate anchors prevented premature failure. 2. All strengthened beams were found to have higher failure loads compared to the control beam. The end and intermediate anchored strengthened beams showed higher failure load compared to unanchored strengthened beams. 2.2.2 Bolting of steel and GFRP Plates: This method is a cost-effective one and in this, the steel or GFRP plates are bolted to the RC beam in the tension or shear zone as an additional reinforcement to increase the ultimate strength, deflection and stiffness. Dulal Goldar, Harvinder Singh and M.S.M. Ali (2002) reported that the bolted plates attached to the bottom and side faces (both) of the beam produced enhancement in flexural strength and also controlled deflection. It also reported that the bolted steel plate produced (7%, on an average) more flexural strength than the GFRP plate. 2.2.3 Epoxy Bonded Continuous Steel Plates: Many RC beams have shear problems for various reasons, such as improper detailing of the shear reinforcement, mistakes in design calculations, poor construction practices and reduction of the shear reinforcement steel area due to corrosion in service environment etc. The shear force in RC beam is combination of dowel action, aggregate interlock, shear reinforcement and concrete in the

compression zone. The shear strength of reinforced concrete beam can be affected by concrete properties, beam size, beam shape and reinforcement details. Sinan Altin et al. investigated the effects of the type and arrangement of steel plates for strengthening on the behavior, strength, stiffness, failure mode and ductility of the reinforced concrete beams [1]. An average of 72% increase in shear strength was obtained for the beam strengthened with epoxy bonded discontinuous steel plates. G. Arslan et al. concluded that the externally bonded continuous steel plates can improve the ultimate load-carrying capacities of damaged reinforced concrete beams and this study is supported by a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis and an equation for ultimate shear capacity of retrofitted beams is proposed except for beams which have steel plate extended to the supports and/or additional anchorages at the ends of steel plate. A report by MS. SEEMA A. BHAGAT, MRS. JYOTI P. BHUSARI showed that the shear strength of a beam with bonded steel plate increases with increasing plate depth and thickness across the beam section. It was observed from the experimental results and its analysis, that the beams should be reinforced with plates up to the maximum possible section depth to attain the maximum shear contribution from steel plate. Using thicker plates does not increase the strength proportionally, it is better to use deeper rather than thicker plates to achieve the maximum shear contribution for same plate cross-sectional area.

2.2.4 Externally bonded SIMCON Laminates: One promising new development uses steel fiber mats to reinforce the concrete matrix. The new approach called SIMCON (Slurry Infiltrated Mat CONcrete) produces concrete components with extremely high flexural strength. Earlier, development of SIFCON (Slurry Infiltrated Fibrous Concrete) was used in the field for retrofit and new construction. However, high placement cost and lack of fiber uniformity associated with manual distribution of discontinuous fibers have prevented its widespread field use. All the above limitations can be overcome using SIMCON, which exhibits the improved features similar to SIFCON at a much lower fiber volume fraction. Since it is manufactured using pre-made continuous fiber mats, delivered in large rolls, fiber placement is substantially simplified. SIMCON laminates properly bonded to the tension face of RC beams can enhance the flexural strength substantially. The strengthened beams exhibit an increase in flexural strength of 45.45 percent for laminates having volume fraction 5.5 percent and aspect ratio 300 and 400, 89.09 percent for volume fraction 5.5 and aspect ratio 400, and 100 percent for volume fraction 5.5 percent and aspect ratio 300. At any given load level, the deflections are reduced significantly thereby increasing the stiffness for the strengthened beams. At ultimate load level

of the control specimens, the strengthened beams exhibit a decrease of deflection up to 87 percent. All the beams strengthened with SIMCON laminates with optimum volume fraction 5.5 percent and aspect ratio 300, 400, and 400 and 300 experience flexural failures. None of the beams exhibit premature brittle failure. A flexible epoxy system will ensure that the bond line does not break before failure and participate fully in the structural resistance of the strengthened beams. 2.2.5 Fiber Reinforced Polymer: Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites consist of high strength fibres embedded in a matrix of polymer resin. Fibres typically used in FRP are glass, carbon and aramid. The mechanical properties of composites are dependent on the fibre properties, matrix properties, fibre-matrix bond properties, and fibre amount and orientation. A composite with all fibres in one direction is designated as unidirectional. Since it is mainly the fibres that provide stiffness and strength composites are often anisotropic with high stiffness in the fibre direction(s). In strengthening applications, unidirectional composites are predominantly used. For structural applications, FRP is mainly used in two areas.

 Use of FRP bars instead of steel reinforcing bars or pre-stressing strands in concrete structures. Strengthening of structurally deficient structural members with external application of FRP. FRP plates can be bonded to reinforced concrete structural elements using various techniques such as external bonding, wrapping and near surface mounting. FRP plates or sheets may be glued to the tension side of a structural member to provide flexural strength or glued to the web side of a beam to provide shear strength. FRP sheets can also be wrapped around a beam to provide shear strength and be wrapped around a column to provide confinement and thus increase the strength and ductility. Adhesives are used to attach the composites to other surfaces such as concrete. The most common adhesives are acrylics, epoxies and urethanes. FRP systems, commonly used for structural applications, come in many forms including wet lay-up (fiber sheets or fabrics saturated at site), prepreg (pre-impregnated fiber sheets of fabrics off site) and pre-cured (composite sheets and shapes manufactured off-site). The properties of an FRP system shall be characterized as a composite, recognizing not just the material properties of the individual fibers, but also the efficiency of the fiber-resin system and fabric architecture. Unlike steel plates, FRP systems possess high strength to self-weight ratio and do not corrode. But, it is imperative to be aware of the performance

characteristics of various FRP systems under different circumstances to select a durable and suitable system for a particular application. It should be ensured that the FRP system selected for structural strengthening has undergone durability testing consistent with the application environment and structural testing in accordance with the anticipated service conditions. Suitably designed protective coatings may also be applied on an FRP system to protect it from exposure to adverse environmental conditions (acids, saltwater, UV exposure, impact, temperature, fire etc.). Careful surface preparation such as removing the cement paste, grinding the surface by using a disc sander, removing the dust generated by surface grinding using an air blower and carful curing are critical to bond performance. 2.2.6 External Reinforcement: External unbonded reinforcement remains a viable retro-fitting technique for strengthening of reinforced concrete beams when installation is carried out with the beam under load. External unbonded reinforcement alters the pattern of strain in a beam, and changes structural action from purely flexural to that of a flexure/tied arch hybrid. The compressive stresses related to the arch action enhance the shear strength of the existing beam. The amount of external reinforcement should be accurately designed in order to have a ductile behavior with the flexural strength slightly lower than the shear strength.

It avoids the potential problems of workmanship, weather sensitivity and chloride contamination that are associated with epoxy bonding. The use of the system is, however, limited to strengthening of simply supported beams and slabs at this time, even though recent studies were conducted for extending this novel technique to multi-support beams (Cairns & Coakley, 2008). The concept of unbonded external reinforcement retro-fitting developed from observations made in a study of reinforced concrete beams when concrete around bars is broken out during repair actions. It showed that quite substantial exposure and unbonding of the main bars might cause little reduction in strength (Cairns & Zhao, 1993). Shear strength is generally considered to be a function of aggregate interlock, dowel action of longitudinal bars, strength of concrete in the compressive region, and the contribution of any links present. In accordance with this concept, the addition of unbonded external bars may be considered to impart a longitudinal force in the beam which enhances the contribution of both aggregate interlock (by reducing crack widths) and the concrete compression zone (by increasing neutral surface depth). Without bond, the force in reinforcement must be constant along the length of the beam and the lever arm of the beam varies with bending moment. The neutral axis therefore takes the form of an arch, with concrete resisting shear/flexure predominantly by compression rather than shear stresses. It might be expected that this change from a purely flexural mode of failure towards a tied arch/flexure hybrid would be accompanied by an increase in shear capacity.

3. SUMMARY:
The retrofitting of RC beams is required to increase the sustainability and the strength (both flexure and shear) of RC beams. Though there are many methods to retrofit a beam, each method has got its own merits and demerits. So, it depends upon the relative merits among those methods and site conditions to select a suitable economic method.