Analytical investigation on shear-strengthened T-Beams using different types of TRC and methods of retrofitting

Textile reinforced concrete (TRC) is a new composite material that can be used as an appropriate alternative for conventional methods of retrofitting the RC beams. The aim of current paper is to investigate the shear strengthening of T-Beams using Glass-TRC as well as Basalt-TRC analytically through Atena 3D software. This analytical investigation is in the direction of determining the effects of the number of TRC layers on effectiveness of applied shear strengthening technique. Meanwhile, modes of the strengthening method including U shaped, Side-Strengthening, Continuous and None-Continuous ones are evaluated properly. In order to reach this aim, one control beam and 64 beams strengthened with two types of TRCs, having different number of layers and modes, are modeled. All the beams are modeled under 4-point loading test. At the end an interface is modeled between concrete and mortar in order to determine the efficiency of the bonding behavior in strengthening. This research was verified using an experimentally investigated research to achieve a reliable model. The results indicated that Basalt-TRC is much more economical than Glass-TRC in increasing ultimate load and changing the failure mode using lower number of TRC layers. It has also been found that side-strengthening method represents a more superior performance in comparison with other types. It is approved that bonding characteristics has the controling role in strengthening methods so in order to approach to the full capacity of the materials a bond with the cohesion rate of 20 MPa is needed.

Keywords:

Shear-Strengthening , TRC , Analytical investigation , Atena 3D , T-Beams.