Flexural performance of wire mesh and geotextile-strengthened reinforced concrete beam

Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beam (RCB) for enhancing its flexural performance is a very popular technique to increase the structural life span. Optimization of the construction and strengthening cost without compromising the target strength and service life of a structure is now a matter of challenge for researchers. The wire mesh and geotextile materials possesses some good properties, such as cost-effectiveness, high strength-to-weight ratio, significant flexural performance, and compatibility with concrete, thus can be used as strengthening material. This experimental study aimed to investigate wire mesh and geotextile as strengthening materials for RCBs to enhance their flexural capacity. Three different types of strengthening configuration were used for each type of strengthening material. In order to examine the effectiveness of the wire mesh and geotextile as strengthening material, three point bending tests were done. This experimental results showed that the beams wrapped using wire mesh could enhance the flexural performance and reduce the deflection of RCBs without damage up to the reliable limit. Moreover, wire mesh layer in the tension face and U-wrapping system were proven as the effective configuration in the strengthening technique. The nonwoven geotextile strengthened-beams also had a moderate strength compared with wire mesh strengthened-beams. Nevertheless, the RCBs were found to be more flexible in nature, having a grip on concrete after failure occurred in concrete crushing when wrapped with geotextile layer. Therefore, RCB strengthening by incorporating wire mesh and geotextile materials is sustainable in terms of structural integrity and economic aspect.