Optimized Hybrid Carbon-Glass Textile-Reinforced Mortar for Flexural and Shear Strengthening of RC Members

The open-mesh textile reinforcement used nowadays in textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) strengthening applications comprise identical fiber rovings in the two orthogonal directions regardless the type of application. However, for members like beams and columns, where fibers are utilized in one main direction, such textile geometry is ineffective and leads to excessive use of raw materials and uneconomic design. To optimise its geometry, this paper investigates experimentally the use of hybrid textile reinforcement for flexural and shear strengthening of 22 RC beams. Four types of hybrid textiles were designed and manufactured to allow for environmental friendly and cost-efficient use of the fibers; expensive high-strength carbon and weaker glass fibers were used in the main and secondary direction, respectively. It was shown that hybrid carbon-glass textiles, having weaker glass fiber rovings at larger spacings in the secondary direction, have identical effectiveness to the standard textiles with 50-50% weight distribution per direction as a retrofitting material. A cost estimation revealed that massive savings on the raw materials can be achieved when hybrid layouts are used in lieu of conventional textiles. The authors believe that results of this study will open a new scope for optimization of current TRM systems for various retrofitting applications and will assist in the development of more economic and environmentally friendly, as well as balanced design of the textile reinforcements.

KOUTAS Lampros;  CHOLOSTIAKOW Szymon;  BOURNAS Dionysios;  RAOOF Saad M;  TETTA Zoi; 

2023-12-15

ASCE-AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS

JRC130946

1090-0268 (online),   

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/JCCOF2.CCENG-4333,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC130946,   

10.1061/JCCOF2.CCENG-4333 (online),