Experimental Investigation of Reinforced Concrete T-Beams Strengthened with Steel Wire Mesh Embedded in Polymer Mortar Overlay

Abstract

The application of steel wire mesh (SWM) and polymer mortar composites to the surface of reinforced concrete (RC) members as external reinforcement is a promising and recent new technique for strengthening and rehabilitating damaged concrete elements. Five one-third-scale simply supported RC T-beams were tested during this study. Four-point bending flexural tests were conducted up to failure on one control beam and on four strengthened beams with different load histories. The objectives of this investigation were to study the effectiveness of SWM and polymer mortar composites in increasing the flexural strength of concrete beams and to study the construction technology for further development. The main test parameters included the amount of longitudinal SWM reinforcement and the load history. The results demonstrate the feasibility of rehabilitating and strengthening RC members with SWM composites and indicate that the ultimate strength of RC T-beams, strengthened with SWM composites, is almost the same regardless of the load history at the time of strengthening. A design procedure is presented with aim to predict the flexural strength of T-beams strengthened with SWM composites. Good agreement between experiment and predicted values was achieved.