Comparative Study on Strengthening of Concrete Structures using Natural and Artificial fibers

Abstract

In India, most of the existing buildings, bridges and historical monuments are more than 50 years old. Demolition of the entire structure and construction of new structure is not a feasible solution as it involves lot of investment, time, and effort. So there is a drastic increase in the demand for low cost and most sustainable fiber composites for strengthening/retrofitting of the existing buildings and bridges. In the present paper, the possibility of using basalt fiber as a strengthening material for retrofitting of the reinforced concrete structures is explored. Normal strength concrete cylinders were cast and wrapped with Basalt fiber fabric. The results are compared with specimens wrapped with one layer of carbon fiber and control specimen. Test results showed an improvement in compressive strength of cylinders as the number of layers of wrapping of basalt fibre fabric is increased. The load deflection performance of wrapped specimens is also found promising in terms of stiffness and ductility.