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Volume Title: ICASGE2023

DOI: ICASGE-RCS

Ebrahim Khalil Khalil ; Ebrahim Khalil Khalil

Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Egypt

Reinforced concrete non-prismatic beams present a crucial element that exists in multi-story buildings and bridges to achieve a sufficient clear height. In many cases, such elements are in urgent need of strengthening or upgrading due to changes in usage or construction errors. Non-prismatic beams frequently have tapered shapes in which the total depth varies linearly along the whole span. The current paper presents different techniques for strengthening tapered beams with the aim of increasing their flexural resistance. For this purpose, six tapered beams, including two un-strengthened reference specimens, were cast and tested. One of the reference specimens was properly detailed, while the other was defective. The adopted strengthening techniques included adding a thin layer of Strain-Hardening Cementitious Composites internally reinforced with glass fiber textile mesh layers (GFTM-SHCC) or Side-Bonded Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (SB-GFRP) sheets. Furthermore, the anchorage system for the GFRP sheets was of interest. The obtained results ensured the effectiveness of the application of the GFTM-SHCC or the side-bonded GFRP sheets in strengthening RC tapered beams. All strengthened tapered beams (properly detailed or defected) exhibited higher ultimate capacities (Pult) than their counterparts' un-strengthened specimens. Besides, a great reduction in the developed major crack width for all strengthened beams was attained. Furthermore, using U-wrapping anchorage systems resulted in greater gains in load carrying capacities as well as energy absorption.

Flexural strengthening; Non-prismatic beams; Strain-hardening cementitious composites (SHCC); GFRP; Side-Bonded; Crack width; Energy absorption

Reinforced Concrete Structures (RCS)