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Underwater Repair of Concrete Elements with TRC Grouting System
Hyeong-Yeol Kim1, Young-Jun You1, Gum-Sung Ryu1
1Structural Engineering Department, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), Goyang-Si 10223, Korea.
Materials (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 9, 2022
Summary
Underwater concrete repair is challenging. A new carbon-textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) grouting system significantly enhances structural integrity, showing improved bond strength and load-carrying capacity in repaired concrete structures.
Area of Science:
- Civil Engineering
- Materials Science
- Structural Engineering
Background:
- Underwater concrete structure repair presents significant engineering challenges.
- Specialized materials and installation systems are typically required for effective repairs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and evaluate a novel carbon-textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) grouting system for underwater concrete repair.
- To assess the bond performance and structural enhancement provided by the TRC grouting system.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated bond performance using bi-surface shear tests on cubic specimens with various grout types (multi-purpose and anti-washout).
- Assessed the impact of casting and curing conditions on bond strength.
- Tested the performance of the TRC grouting system on full-scale reinforced concrete (RC) slab specimens using two installation methods.
Main Results:
- Non-dispersive, anti-washout grouts exhibited minimal bond strength variation (≤15.8%) between dry and underwater conditions, unlike multi-purpose grout.
- TRC-repaired RC slabs demonstrated significant improvements: at least 37.5% higher cracking load, 16.6% higher steel yield load, and 21.7% higher failure load compared to unrepaired specimens.
- Grouting material type had an insignificant effect on the ultimate load-carrying capacity of repaired specimens (≤4% difference).
Conclusions:
- The developed carbon-textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) grouting system offers a viable and effective solution for underwater concrete structure repair.
- The system significantly enhances the structural performance and load-carrying capacity of repaired concrete elements.
- Anti-washout grouts are recommended for consistent bond performance in underwater repair applications.
Keywords:
bond testcarbon textilecementitious groutconcrete structurestructural testingtextile-reinforced concrete (TRC)underwater repairMore Related Videos
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