Damage evaluation of RC beams strengthened with hybrid fibers

摘要

This paper describes an experimental investigation on hybrid fiber reinforced concrete (HYFRC) beams. And the main aim of this present paper is to examine the dynamic characteristics and damage evaluation of undamaged and damaged HYFRC beams under free-free constraints. In this experimental work, totally four RC beams were cast and analyzed in order to evaluate the dynamic behavior as well as static load behavior of HYFRCs. Hybrid fiber reinforced concrete beams have been cast by incorporating two different fibers such as steel and polypropylene (PP). Damage of HYFRC beams was obtained by cracking of concrete for one of the beams in each set under four-point bending tests with different percentage variation of damage levels as 50%, 70% and 90% of maximum ultimate load. And the main dynamic characteristics such as damping, fundamental natural frequencies, mode shapes and frequency response function at each and every damage level has been assessed by means of non-destructive technique (NDT) with hammer excitation. The fundamental natural frequency and damping values obtained through dynamic tests for HYFRC beams were compared with control (reference) RC beam at each level of damage which has been acquired through static tests. The static experimental test results emphasize that the HYFRC beam has attained higher ultimate load as compared with control reinforced concrete beam.