Reinforced L-Shaped Frame Made of Textile-Reinforced Concrete

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Civil Engineering
• Structural Analysis

Background:

• Textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) offers advantages for thin, complex structures.
• Bending in TRC structures, especially at corners, poses challenges for flexural stiffness.
• Existing TRC designs often struggle with load-bearing capacity in bent areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate an L-shaped rigid frame using textile-reinforced concrete.
• To determine the load-bearing capacity of this novel TRC frame design.
• To validate numerical models with experimental results for TRC corner reinforcement.

Main Methods:

• Development of a numerical model using Atena Engineering software for non-linear structural analysis.
• Calibration of the numerical model with material parameters and four-point bending tests.
• Experimental testing of L-shaped TRC frames with optimized carbon textile reinforcement.

Main Results:

• The developed L-shaped TRC frame exhibits rigidity and can handle positive and negative bending stresses.
• Optimized carbon textile reinforcement, homogenized with epoxy resin and silica sand, enhances concrete cohesion.
• Experimental results closely match the predictions from the calibrated numerical model.

Conclusions:

• The novel shaping and anchoring of reinforcement in the corner area are key to the frame's rigidity.
• This TRC design provides a viable solution for creating rigid, load-bearing concrete structures with corners.
• The study validates the effectiveness of advanced numerical modeling in predicting TRC structural behavior.