Flexural Retrofitting of Reinforced Concrete Structures Using Green Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer Plates

摘要

Experimental and numerical studies were carried out to determine the suitability of Green Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GNFRP) composite plates, fabricated with a bio-derived resin matrix and embedded natural hemp fibers acting as tensile and transverse reinforcement and produced using a vacuum resin infusion process, to be used for strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) beams for flexural loading. The experimental study consisted of four RC beams: three of them used for control purposes (one plain, two with the traditional glued Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites plates) and one with 10 glued layers of the GNFRP composite plate to study the proposed strengthening system. Strength, ductility and failure modes were analyzed and compared to the numerically obtained results by ABAQUS, the finite element software. The increased stiffness and the ultimate strengths of RC beams strengthened with Green Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GNFRP) composites plates confirmed that strengthening RC beams using externally bonded GNFRP composites plates fabricated with a bio-derived resin matrix and natural hemp fibers is a feasible alternative and a practical approach to retrofitting reinforced concrete structures.