Rehabilitation of corrosion-aged concrete T-girders with textilereinforced mortar

Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures in the Arabian Gulf and worldwide suffer from extensive corrosion due to the harsh environment and/or use of deicingsalt. The present study proposes a new technique for rehabilitation of corrosion-damaged RC T-girders, namely, Textile-Reinforced Mortar (TRM), that utilizes newly produced carbon and basalt fiber textile grids embedded between cement-based mortar layers. The viability of the (TRM) system to improve the flexural response of undamaged RC beams has been demonstrated in few recent studies (D’Ambrisi & Focacci 2011, Elsanadedy et al. 2013, Hashemi & Al-Mahaidi 2012). Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the TRM system to restore the load capacity of corrosion-damaged RC beams has not been investigated. This research work aims at filling this gap and providing insight into the subject. The experimental program comprised testing of six specimens as shown in Table 1. The repair scheme consisted of TRM layers internally embedded within the corroded region of the beam or a combination of internally embedded and externally bonded TRM layers.