Concrete structures deteriorate due to various reasons, which lead to either repair, rehabilitation or replacement later. An unpredictable and more dangerous failure is the shear failure, which occurs without any prior warning. This study aims at investigation of glass fibre reinforced plastic plate bonding technique to strengthen the deteriorated /discarded structures to the requisite or at least to a lower load carrying capacity. The upgrading can be achieved by adopting various techniques of which epoxy bonding of plates is one. Bonding of steel plates using epoxy resin has been applied mainly on the bridges for strengthening but it has disadvantages of corrosion and handling at site etc. Fibre reinforced composite plates overcome these problems and can provide a satisfactory solution for strengthening. An experimental study has been carried out to rehabilitate a cracked (discarded) reinforced concrete beam to restore its original load carrying capacity using glass fibre reinforced plastic plates. (a)
Abstract