Textile Reinforced Concrete for Flexural Strengthening of RC-Structures-Part 2: Application on a Concrete Shell

Abstract

The first practical application of the innovative strengthening method using textile reinforced concrete was carried out in October/November 2006 in the retrofit of a reinforced-concrete roof shell structure at the University of Applied Sciences in Schweinfurt, Germany. Since textile-reinforced concrete had not yet been standardized as a construction material, a single “special-case” technical approval was sought from and granted by the appropriate authorities for this particular application of textile reinforced concrete. This strengthening method entailed the layer-by-layer application of three layers of fine-grained concrete and textile fabric comprising 800 tex carbon rovings onto a rough, sandblasted concrete surface. The resulting strengthening layer has a thickness of only 15 mm (0.6 in.) and extended the roof structure’s service life.