BENDING BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE BEAMS WRAPPED WITH CARBON FABRIC

Reinforced concrete structures deteriorate over time due to environmen tal aging, fatigue, and other reasons. Strengthening and rehabilitatin g those concrete structures by wrapping them with carbon fabric is one of several economical engineering solutions. The intent of this study is to evaluate the increase in flexural strength of reinforced concre te beams after wrapping them with carbon fabrics. In this study, 24 re inforced concrete beams strengthened with carbon fiber wraps were expe rimentally evaluated to determine improvements in flexural strength. I n addition, bending test results from the wrapped beams were compared with those of other identical concrete beams strengthened with bonded steel plates. Four different carbon wrap configurations were used for strengthening beams and for evaluation and comparison of experimental data. Static responses of all the concrete beams were evaluated in ter ms of strength, stiffness, compositeness between wrap and concrete, an d associated failure modes. Factors governing the percentage increase in the ultimate strength are discussed. Wrapped beams were analyzed co nsidering conventional force equilibrium equations and compared with t he experimental results.