Investigations into the Shear Load-Capacity of Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Structures with Carbon-Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

As part of the experiments, 4-point-bending tests to investigate the shear capacity of strengthened T-beams were carried out. Thereby, 5 reference beams and 25 T-beams with carbon reinforced concrete strengthening were tested. Two different impregnated carbon grids in various strengthening configurations at the beams’ webs were checked. The number of strengthening layers was varied as well as the orientation of the grid in the strengthening layer. Furthermore, the influence of pre-damage of the RC beam before strengthening and two different shear slendernesses were investigated. A load increase of 25% to 42% compared to the unstrengthened reference specimens demonstrates the capability of carbon concrete for shear strengthening. In addition to the presentation of tested large-scale specimens, a test analysis will also be conducted, along with the derivation of a limit value for the maximum possible strengthening ratio using carbon-reinforced concrete based on the observed failure modes.