COMPOSITE WRAPS FOR AGING INFRASTRUCTURE - CONCRETE BEAMS

In Australia, the post-war years saw rapid economic growth, and was th e period during which much of the current infrastructure was construct ed. However, there are now doubts on its durability and structural int egrity. In the aeronautical scene, composite repairs have been shown t o be a very effective way of maintaining the operational performance o f damaged aircraft structures, and they may well be one method for add ressing the problems of aging infrastructure. To this end, the present paper evaluates the ability of externally bonded composite (fibre gla ss) wraps to increase the load-carrying capacity of both damaged and u ndamaged concrete beams. Particular attention is paid to the failure m echanisms, and to verifying the feasibility of using glass-reinforced plastic wraps to repair degraded concrete beams. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd.