Investigation of the load-bearing behavior of composite joints in cross-section supplements for concrete structures

The strengthening with cross-sectional supplements made of reinforced concrete is already of great importance in building, bridge, and industrial constructions and will be further developed in the future because of the increasing demands on existing structures [1]- [3].As part of an ongoing research project at the Institute of Structural Concrete at RWTH Aachen University, funded by the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF), a correlation between the method of surface treatment of the old concrete, the measured roughness, the type of concrete supplementation, and the load-bearing capacity of the composite joint has to be derived by means of new systematic test series. As a result, a database, and a possible practical guide on the load-bearing capacity of different combinations of old concretes, surface treatments, supplementary concrete layers, and bonding conditions will be developed. This paper will present the initial findings from this research project.