Strengthening of existing structures with Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) is a method that has been more common in the building sector during the last decades. The materials strength in relation to its weight is a huge advantage but the lack of knowledge in the building sector results that professionals uses more proven materials such as steel to strength structures. In this report five minor projects in which steel was the strengthening material has been analysed to see if CFRP could be a competitive strengthening material considering mainly practical and economical aspects. The main purpose of this report was to evaluate when CFRP is the most suitable option for strengthening of concrete structures. The results showed that CFRP was applicable in every project but the total cost were higher comparing to the steel solution in four out of five projects. The results indicate that it is difficult to motivate CFRP regarding the economical aspect in relation to minor project that were evaluated in this report. Nevertheless, the tendency is that the advantages with CFRP is more useful when there are more comprehensive projects such as advanced steel works and when it is necessary to save room volumes.

Epoxy intumescent coatings are fire protection systems for steel structural elements that are widely used in applications that protection from severe hydrocarbon fires is required, such as oil and gas facilities. These polymer coatings react upon heating and expand into a thick porous char layer that insulates the protected steel element. In the typical fire scenarios for these applications, the intumescent coatings must resist very high heat fluxes and highly erosive forces from ignited pressurised gases. Hence, continuous fibre reinforcement is embedded in the thick epoxy coating during installation, so as to ensure the integrity of the weak intumesced char during fire exposure. This reinforcement is typically in the form of a bidirectional carbon and/or glass fibre mesh, thus under normal service conditions a fibre-reinforced intumescent coating (FRIC) is essentially a lightly fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite material. This thesis examines the impacts of embedded high strength fibres on the tensile behaviour of epoxy intumescent materials in their unreacted state prior to fire exposure, and the potential enhancements that arise in the structural performance of elements protected with FRICs. An experimental programme is presented comprising tensile coupon tests of unreacted intumescent epoxies, reinforced with different fibre meshes at various fibre volume fractions. It is demonstrated that the tensile properties of FRICs can be enhanced considerably by including increasing amounts of carbon fibre reinforcement aligned in the principal loading direction, which can be tailored in the desired orientation on the coated structural members to enhance their load carrying capacity and/or deformability. An experimental study is presented on coated intact and artificially damaged I-beams (simulating steel losses from corrosion) tested in bending, demonstrating that FRICs can enhance the flexural response of the beams after yielding of steel, until the tensile rupture of the coatings. An analytical procedure for predicting the flexural behaviour of the coated beams is discussed and validated against the obtained test results, whereas a parametric analysis is performed based on this analytical model to assess the effect of various parameters on the strengthening efficiency of FRICs. The results of this analysis demonstrate that it is feasible to increase the flexural load capacity of thin sections considerably utilising the flexural strength gains from FRICs. Finally, a novel application is proposed in this thesis for FRICs as a potential system for structural strengthening or retrofitting reinforced concrete and concrete-encased steel columns by lateral confinement. An experimental study is presented on the axial compressive behaviour of short, plain concrete and concrete-encased structural steel columns that are wrapped in the hoop direction with FRICs. The results clearly show that epoxy intumescent coatings reinforced with a carbon fibre mesh of suitable weight can provide lateral confinement to the concrete core resisting its lateral dilation, thus resulting in considerable enhancements of the axial strength and deformability of concrete. The observed strengthening performance of the composite protective coatings is found to be at least as good as that of FRP wraps consisting of the same fibre reinforcement mesh and a conventional, non-intumescent epoxy resin. The predictive ability of existing design-oriented FRP confinement models is compared against the experimental results, and is found to be reasonably precise in predicting the peak strength of the tested columns, hence existing models appear to be suitable for design and analysis of column strengthening schemes with the proposed novel FRIC system. The research presented herein shows clearly that FRICs have a strong potential as alternative systems for consideration in the field of structural strengthening and rehabilitation, since they can provide substantial enhancements in the load carrying capacity for both applications considered. At the same time FRICs can thermally protect the underlying structural elements in the event of a fire, by intumescing and charring, thus potentially eliminating the need for additional passive fire protection that is common with conventional fire-rated FRP wrapping systems. Although this thesis provides a proof-of-concept for use of the proposed novel FRICs as structural strengthening materials, considerable additional research is particularly required to study their fire protection performance when applied to concrete substrates, to make use of the proposed hybrid functionality with confidence.

Design and manufacture of test elements for experimental laboratory testing of shear damage. Testing of selected mechanical characteristics of test elements. Experimental analysis of test elements in the lab, creating a mathematical model in ATENA software, static analysis. Evaluation of experimental analysis and comparison with the values of static analysis. Final overall evaluation.

Tradicionalmente no reforço de pilares de concreto armado são empregados materiais já consagrados, como as chapas de aço, o próprio concreto armado, e, mais recentemente, o polímero reforçado com fibras (PRF). Porém existem ainda alguns problemas associados a estes materiais ou, mais especificamente, às técnicas utilizadas para promover o reforço, destacando-se a dificuldade de execução, comportamento frágil e perda de área útil em função do aumento da seção transversal do pilar original. Por outro lado, o desenvolvimento da tecnologia dos materias e a constante inovação tecnológica tem como resultado a oferta de uma grande variedade de materiais com características orientadas à solução de um determinado problema. Cita-se como exemplo o concreto reforçado com fibras de aço, inicialmente desenvolvido para aplicação em elementos submetidos à flexão, mas que apresenta atributos, que se bem explorados, são desejáveis para aplicação no reforço de pilares. Busca-se neste trabalho desenvolver estratégias e técnicas de reforço que busquem potencializar o aproveitamento de todos os atributos oferecidos pelos materiais comumente empregados e desenvolver um concreto reforçado com fibras de aço com diferentes comprimentos que possibilite sua aplicação no reforço de pilares. Os resultados da análise experimental demonstram que a escolha do material, da estratégia e técnica de reforço são fatores decisivos para aliar o melhor aproveitamento dos materiais empregados e o atendimento às exigências de projeto. Conclui-se ainda que a associação de fibras de aço de diferentes comprimentos possibilita a utilização do concreto reforçado com fibras no reforço de pilares de concreto, tendo como grande virtude a facilidade de execução, se comparado com o concreto armado. / Tradicionally the strengthening of reinforced concrete columns uses materials well known, such as steel plates, the reinforced concrete, and, more recently, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP). But there are still some problems associated with these materials, or more specifically, with the used techniques, specially the difficulty of implementation, brittle behavior and loss free space due to the increase of the original cross section of the column. On the other hand, the materials technology development and the constant innovation has resulted in the provision of a wide variety of materials with specifics caracteristics to solving a particular problem. For example, steel fiber reinforced concrete, originally developed for use in elements subject to bending, but it has some attributes, which if are well explored, are desirable for use in strengthening columns. This work presents the development of strategies and techniques that optimize the o use all the attributes offered by the commonly used materials, and develop a different lengths steel fiber reinforced concrete to enable its application on columns strengthening. The results of experimental analysis show that the choice of material, strategy and technique of strengtheningt is a key factor to combine the best use of the materials used and the design requirements. It is also concluded that the combination of steel fibers of different lengths allows the use of steel fibers reinforced concrete on the strengthening of concrete columns, with the great virtue of the ease of implementation, compared to the reinforced concrete.

Tradicionalmente no reforço de pilares de concreto armado são empregados materiais já consagrados, como as chapas de aço, o próprio concreto armado, e, mais recentemente, o polímero reforçado com fibras (PRF). Porém existem ainda alguns problemas associados a estes materiais ou, mais especificamente, às técnicas utilizadas para promover o reforço, destacando-se a dificuldade de execução, comportamento frágil e perda de área útil em função do aumento da seção transversal do pilar original. Por outro lado, o desenvolvimento da tecnologia dos materias e a constante inovação tecnológica tem como resultado a oferta de uma grande variedade de materiais com características orientadas à solução de um determinado problema. Cita-se como exemplo o concreto reforçado com fibras de aço, inicialmente desenvolvido para aplicação em elementos submetidos à flexão, mas que apresenta atributos, que se bem explorados, são desejáveis para aplicação no reforço de pilares. Busca-se neste trabalho desenvolver estratégias e técnicas de reforço que busquem potencializar o aproveitamento de todos os atributos oferecidos pelos materiais comumente empregados e desenvolver um concreto reforçado com fibras de aço com diferentes comprimentos que possibilite sua aplicação no reforço de pilares. Os resultados da análise experimental demonstram que a escolha do material, da estratégia e técnica de reforço são fatores decisivos para aliar o melhor aproveitamento dos materiais empregados e o atendimento às exigências de projeto. Conclui-se ainda que a associação de fibras de aço de diferentes comprimentos possibilita a utilização do concreto reforçado com fibras no reforço de pilares de concreto, tendo como grande virtude a facilidade de execução, se comparado com o concreto armado. / Tradicionally the strengthening of reinforced concrete columns uses materials well known, such as steel plates, the reinforced concrete, and, more recently, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP). But there are still some problems associated with these materials, or more specifically, with the used techniques, specially the difficulty of implementation, brittle behavior and loss free space due to the increase of the original cross section of the column. On the other hand, the materials technology development and the constant innovation has resulted in the provision of a wide variety of materials with specifics caracteristics to solving a particular problem. For example, steel fiber reinforced concrete, originally developed for use in elements subject to bending, but it has some attributes, which if are well explored, are desirable for use in strengthening columns. This work presents the development of strategies and techniques that optimize the o use all the attributes offered by the commonly used materials, and develop a different lengths steel fiber reinforced concrete to enable its application on columns strengthening. The results of experimental analysis show that the choice of material, strategy and technique of strengtheningt is a key factor to combine the best use of the materials used and the design requirements. It is also concluded that the combination of steel fibers of different lengths allows the use of steel fibers reinforced concrete on the strengthening of concrete columns, with the great virtue of the ease of implementation, compared to the reinforced concrete.