Khan, Arslan Qayyum. Flexural strengthening of RC beams with sisal fiber composites. Master's Degree(Engineering and Technology). Thammasat University. Thammasat University Library. : Thammasat University, 2015.
Flexural strengthening of RC beams with sisal fiber composites
Abstract:
This study is conducted to examine the effectiveness of sisal fiber composites in flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Sisal fiber composites are usually made from natural sisal fibers with suitable epoxy resin. Salient features of sisal fiber composites are low price, easily available, high toughness and acceptable engineering properties. The core goals of this research are to study the structural behavior, external strengthening techniques, new anchorage systems and flexural reinforcement ratio effect on RC beams strengthened with sisal fiber composites. To achieve the objectives, a total of 17 RC beams with dimensions 150 x 250 x 2700 mm (width x depth x length) were constructed and tested under two point loading. The experimental program was divided into two groups depending upon the flexural reinforcement ratio (Low Reinforcement (LR) group and High Reinforcement (HR) group). The LR group was consisted of 11 RC beams including one control beam. The control beam was not strengthened, while the remaining 10 beams were strengthened using different strengthening schemes, no. of layers of sisal fiber composites and anchorage systems. The comparisons between control and strengthened specimens were made and discussed in Chapter 5. The experimental outcomes revealed that sisal fiber composites significantly enhanced the ultimate loading capacity of the RC beams. The HR group contained one control beam and 5 strengthened beams. The results demonstrated that sisal fiber composites had better strengthening effect for RC beams having low flexural reinforcement as compared to RC beams having high flexural reinforcement ratio. A comparison was also carried out between the experimental work and finite element method. VecTor2 was used for the modeling and analysis of RC beams strengthened in flexural with sisal fiber composites. VecTor2 is a nonlinear finite element (FE) software which has been established at the University of Toronto. The comparison showed that the results obtained from the VecTor2 were in good accordance with the experimental results
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