Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299
DOI 10.1617/s11527-007-9238-9
O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E
Repair of heat-damaged RC shallow beams using advanced
composites
Rami H. Haddad Æ M. Jamal Shannag Æ
Alaa Moh’d
Received: 10 April 2006 / Accepted: 21 February 2007 / Published online: 22 March 2007

RILEM 2007
Abstract Several repair techniques for restoring
the structural capacity of heat-damaged high-
strength reinforced concrete shallow beams using
advanced composites are proposed. A series of 16
under-reinforced concrete hidden beams were
cast, heated at 600C for 3 h, repaired, and then
tested under four point-loading. Tests were con-
ducted to study the effectiveness of externally
applied composite materials on increasing the
flexural capacity of beams. The composites used
include high strength fiber reinforced concrete
jackets; ferrocement laminates; and high-strength
fiber glass sheets. The beams repaired with steel
and high performance polypropylene fiber rein-
forced concrete jackets regained up to 108 and
99% of the control beams’ ultimate load capacity,
with a corresponding increase in stiffness of up to
104 and 98%, respectively. The beams repaired
with fiber glass sheets and ferrocement meshes
regained up to 126 and 99% of the control beams’
ultimate load capacity, with a corresponding
increase in stiffness of up to 160 and 156%,
respectively. Most of the beams repaired showed
R. H. Haddad
A. Moh’d
Department of Civil Engineering, Jordan University
of Science & Technology, Irbid, Jordan
M. J. Shannag (&)
Department of Civil Engineering, King Saud
University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
e-mail: mjshanag@ksu.edu.sa
a typical flexural failure with very fine and well-
distributed hairline cracks in the constant mo-
ment region.
Keywords Repair
Heat-damaged beams

Fiber
Concrete
1 Introduction
Use of wide or shallow reinforced concrete beams
is a common construction practice mainly for
architectural reasons. These beams are generally
hidden within the floor, solid or ribbed slabs
construction systems. In high rise buildings, to
reduce the construction depth of each floor and
hence the overall building height, wide and
shallow reinforced beams (i.e. width > depth) of
high strength concrete (HSC) are commonly
used. The use of HSC offers significant economic,
architectural and durability advantages over nor-
mal strength concrete (NSC). However, it is well
stipulated that HSC has certain shortcomings
such as high brittleness and poor fire resistance.
When exposed to fire, reinforced HSC structural
elements undergoes significant damage due to
loss of their structural capacity and corresponding
increase in deflection; Such loss due to fire are
primarily because of the decrease in strength and
bond of embedded steel [1, 2]. This is referred to:
288
the decomposition of HSC, and the increase in its
porosity as well as the formation of thermal
cracks [3]. With relatively low water/binder ratios
and the use of pozzolanic additives, HSC becomes
denser, and thus exhibits much more spalling and
degradation under heating as compared to normal
strength concrete (NSC) as a result of the high
pressure created because of escaping vapors
[4–6].
Limited or no data exists in the literature on
the flexural behavior of shallow HSC beams
when exposed to elevated temperature. It is a
challenge for structural engineers to develop
efficient rehabilitation techniques that enable
such beams to restore their structural integrity,
after being exposed to intense fires for longer
periods of time. A few researchers have used
conventional methods for repairing fire-damaged
reinforced concrete members [7, 8]. Most of
these methods involved essentially removing
deteriorated concrete layers and replacing them
with fresh concrete. Lin et al. [7] investigated the
behavior of reinforced concrete columns re-
paired with fresh cast-in-place concrete after
being damaged by fire. The results showed that
most of the repaired columns could reach their
original stiffness and strength or even higher
than those of unheated columns. Lange [8] used
epoxy injection, shotcrete repair of damaged
concrete surfaces, and stiffening of structural
members to regain the structural integrity of the
St. Elizabeth Hospital in Holland after being
damaged by an intense fire.
Usually, repair of heat-damaged high strength
members would be the only solution to regain
structural capacity. A practical method of repair
should take into consideration, the amount of
damage, the shape of the beam, materials of
repair, construction cost, time and practicality.
Structural repair of reinforced concrete structures
have become a significant part of the total cost of
construction in the world. Several repair tech-
niques were used to repair damaged concrete
structural elements. These involve strengthening
beams and columns by epoxy bonding of steel-
plates, external fixing of ferrocement laminates or
high performance fiber reinforced concrete, and
bonding of fiber reinforced polymers sheets to
existing damaged concrete [9–19].
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299
The main objective of the present investigation
is to propose repair techniques for restoring the
structural capacity of heat-damaged reinforced
high strength concrete shallow beams using
advanced composite materials. The composites
used include: (i) high strength cementitious grouts
reinforced with different types of discrete, dis-
continuous steel and high performance polypro-
pylene fibers; (ii) ferrocement laminates; and (iii)
high-strength fabric polymeric sheets such as glass
(GFRC) sheets. The results of this study are
expected to provide a cost effective, and long
term repair and retrofit solutions that can be
implemented in concrete industry.
2 Experimental program
2.1 Materials properties
2.1.1 Reinforcing steel
Grade 75 deformed steel rebars of diameters
(14 mm and 10 mm) were used in all RC beams.
The stress–strain diagrams for the 14-mm-rebars
before and after heating to 600C and then
cooling are presented in Fig. 1. The geometric
and mechanical properties of the rebars, as
measured in the laboratory, are listed in Table 1.
800
700
600
500
Stress (MPa)
400
300
200
at 23C
100 at 600C
0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35
Strain (m/m)
Fig. 1 Stress–strain diagram for Grade 75 steel rebars
before and after heating then cooling
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299 289

Table 1 Mechanical and physical properties of reinforcing steel used

Temperature (C) YS (MPa) US (MPa) EAF (%) RH (mm) RS (mm) FA (degrees)

23 633 760 10.6 0.53 5.4 53.8

600a 500 668 30.4 0.57 5.05 54.3
a
= Properties after cooling, YS = Yield stress, US = Ultimate stress, EAF = Elongation at failure, RH = Rip height,
RS = Rip space, FA = Face angle

2.1.2 Fibers beams. The geometric and physical properties of

Two types of fibers were used in preparing the
high strength fibrous cementitious grout layers.
The fibers used were a blend of equal proportions
of two types of steel fibers (brass-coated (BCS),
and hooked steel (HS)), and high performance
polypropylene fibers (HPP) at volumetric frac-
tions of 2, and 1.5%, respectively. The mechanical
and geometrical properties of the fibers used are
listed in Table 2.
2.1.3 Ferrocement laminates
Two galvanized woven square steel wire meshes
of two sizes (small and medium) at two or four
layers were used in preparing the 25-mm-ferro-
cement laminates. The geometric and mechanical
properties of meshes used are listed in Table 3.
2.1.4 High-strength fabric sheets system
Two types of unidirectional fabric sheets of
0.13 mm thickness of glass (GFRP) fabric types
were used in repairing heat-damaged beams.
Epoxy based impregnating resin was used to glue
the sheets along the tension surfaces of the
the glass fabric sheets are listed in Table 4.
Special resin was used to create a very strong
bond between the fabric sheets and the concrete
surface. The quantity of resin coat recommended
for gluing the sheets with concrete surface ranges
from 0.70 kg/m3 to 1.2 kg/m3 and that for inter-
layer and final coats was about 0.5 kg/m3. The
tensile strength, the strain at breaking, and
flexural modulus of elasticity for the resin as
provided by the manufacturer were 30 MPa,
1.5%, and 3.8 GPa, respectively.
2.1.5 Concrete mix
Crushed coarse basalt aggregates and a mixture of
equal proportions of crushed fine basalt and silica
sands were used with ordinary Portland cement
(Type I) in preparing the high strength concrete
mix. The crushed coarse basalt had a maximum
aggregate size of 9.5 mm. The fineness moduli of
fine basalt and the silica sand, determined accord-
ing to ASTM-C136 [20] was found to be 3.4 and
1.6, respectively. The bulk specific gravity and the
absorption for coarse and fine basalt particles,
obtained according to ASTM-C127 and C128 [20]
were 2.73 and 1.9%; and 2.64 and 5.2%,

Table 2 Mechanical and geometrical properties of fibers

Fiber Geometrical configuration YS (MPa) SG Diameter (mm) Length (mm) Aspect ratio

BCS 2950 7.8 0.15 6 40

HS 1172 7.8 0.5 30 60

HPP 525 0.91 (1 · 0.8)a 40 –

BCS = Brass-coated steel, HS = Hooked steel; HPP = High performance polypropylene, SG = specific gravity, YS = Yield
stress
a
rectangular cross section
290
Table 3 Geometric properties of the wire meshes used in ferrocement laminates
Mesh size NOL Geometric properties
Opening space (mm) Diameter (mm)
Small 2 or 4 2.8 0.5
Medium 4 6 0.7
NOL = Number of layers, YS = Yield stress, US = Ultimate strength, YSR = Yield strain, USR = Ultimate strain,
E = Elasticity modulus
Table 4 Physical properties of GFRP
Fiber type Glass
Area weight 440 g/m2
Tensile strength 2276 N/mm2
Tensile E-modulus 72500 N/mm2
Strain at break 4%
respectively. The corresponding values for silica
sand were 2.6 and 0.5% respectively. The unit
weight for coarse aggregate, according to ASTM-
C29 [20] was found to be 1560 kg/m3.
The high strength concrete mix (HSC) used in
this study was designed using a w/c ratio of 0.35
according to ACI-211 mix design procedure to
attain 28-days cylinder compressive strength of
65 MPa and a slump of about 50 mm. The
contents of cement, water, coarse and fine basalt,
and silica sand used were 516, 215, 763, 452, and
452 kg/m3, respectively. A superplasticizer was
used at 2% by weight of cement.
2.1.6 Repair layers
The slurry mix was designed to have a high
compressive strength, high workability, and excel-
lent durability. The slurry mix proportions were
1:0.6:0.15:0.42:0.03 by weight of Type I cement,
sand, silica fume, water and superplasticizer,
respectively [21].
The fibrous grouts consist of the same slurry
mixture reinforced with fibers of different types
and contents. Type I cement, sand, silica fume,
water and superplasticizer were used in preparing
the slurry. The silica sand had a maximum size of
about 0.2 mm whereas the silica fume used had an
average of 93% silica dioxide content and a
specific gravity of 2.35. The superplasticizer used
was Cico fluid Type ME1 with a specific gravity of
nearly 1. The ferrocement layers consist of the
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299
Mechanical properties
YS (MPa) US (MPa) USY (m/m) USR (m/m)
295 500 0.83% 2.1%
215 384 0.87% 2.4%
same high strength cementitious slurry mentioned
above, reinforced with steel meshes of different
sizes at two or four layers.
2.2 Specimen geometry and steel
reinforcement detailing
Sixteen shallow HSC beams
(100 · 250 · 1500 mm) were designed according
to the ACI Code [22]. The cross sectional
geometric properties and steel detailing are pre-
sented in Fig. 2. The beams were cast in a
specially designed wooden mold of 20 mm thick-
ness, with a concrete cover of 25 mm to the
centroid of main reinforcement. Special steel
spacers were positioned inside the mold under-
neath the reinforcement to achieve the required
cover.
2.3 Mixing, casting, and curing of the beams
A titling drum mixer of 0.15 m3 capacity was used
in mixing the concrete ingredients following
ASTM-C192 [20]. The slump was measured,
according to ASTM-C143 [20] and was found to
be about 50 mm. The casting of the beam
specimens was performed in the following se-
quence: the wooden molds were oiled and the
steel cages were placed, and followed by pouring
the concrete in two layers; each was compacted
using a vibrating table to achieve a satisfactory
compaction. The surface of the beams was
finished smooth by a trowel. Finally, the cast
beams were demolded and covered with wet
burlap for about 4 months. For controlling the
quality of the concrete, 100 mm cubes were cast
in steel molds, demolded 24 h after casting, and
cured under the same environment, the beams
were subjected to.
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299 291

Fig. 2 Details of beams I Φ 8 mm/S=90 mm Φ 8 mm/S=50 mm

reinforcement

I
1400 mm
1500 mm

2 Φ10 mm

h=100 mm

3Φ14 mm
b=250 mm
SECTION I-I

2.4 Heating procedures 800

Furance Temprature ( °C)

After about 4 months of curing, the specimens 600
were left for a week in the laboratory air (relative
humidity 60%, temperature 23C). Beams 400
designated to undergo thermal treatment were
subjected to 600C for 3 h using the electrical
200
furnace shown in Fig. 3. The time–temperature
schedule used in this study is shown in Fig. 4.
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
2.5 Repair techniques Time (hours)

Fig. 4 Time–temperature schedule

The heat-damaged beams were strengthened at
the compression surface by 25-mm-thick plain
grout layer and on the tension surface by three
types of composite materials: high strength
fibrous cementitious grouts; 25-mm-thick ferroce-
ment laminates, and two layers of GFRP sheets,
respectively. Steel studs of 8-mm were planted in
regions of high shear to prevent horizontal
slippage of ferrocement laminates and the plain
and fibrous grout layers as shown in Fig. 5.
Casting of the top grout layer aimed at: (i)
compensating for the dramatic loss in compres-
sive strength upon heating; and (ii) increasing the
resisting arm of tension layers added.
The surfaces of heat-damaged beams were
roughened using a special hammer. This was
followed by drilling and vacuum cleaning 10-mm-
holes in the regions of high shear, through which
8-mm-steel studs were planted using a special
epoxy. Then, wooden frames were assembled and
fixed to the perimeter of beams, and lubricated to
allow for casting 25-mm-cover layers. Thereafter,
the plain grout ingredients were mixed in a
Hobart Type Laboratory Mixer of 0.06 m3 capac-
ity. The 28-day-compressive strength of the plain
grout was about 50 MPa obtained using cylindri-
cal specimens of 75 · 150 mm.

2.5.1 Fibrous grout layers

The fibrous grout layers were cast by infiltrating a

Fig. 3 Beam and cube specimens in the electric furnace blend of hooked and brass coated steel fibers into
292
Fig. 5 Distribution of Grout layer
steel studs in the high
shear region (dimensions Fibrous or
are in mm) ferrocement layer
50 75 75 50
the grout, or infiltrating polypropylene fibers at
three stages. After 24 h, the repaired zones were
demolded and cured using wet burlap for another
27 days.
2.5.2 Ferrocement laminates
The ferrocement laminates were prepared using
two or four layers of small or medium spacing
steel wire meshes, and spaced using 5-mm-thick
steel pieces, as shown in Fig. 6. The mesh layers
were drilled at location where steel studs were
pre-planted then placed on the tension surface of
the specimens. Thereafter, the plain grout was
infiltrated in the meshes and vibrated.
2.5.3 High-strength fabric sheet system
Two layers of glass sheets (250-mm by 1500-mm)
were used in repairing the heat-damaged beam.
The areas of sheets were chosen so that both the
existing steel and the sheets yielded prior to
delamination of sheets or crushing of concrete
[23]. The concrete surface was first smoothened
and leveled using a diamond grinding disk, then
Fig. 6 Ferrocement layer details
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299
80 150 150 150 150 150 150 80
Side view
80 150 150 150 440 150 150 150 80
250
1500
dust cleaned by a vacuum. Tinner saturated cloths
were placed at the cleaned surfaces to reduce the
moisture content. The fabric was carefully placed
onto a special resin coating, mixed of two com-
ponents, and applied to the surface by a brush at
1 kg/m2. Using a wooden roller, the fabric was
carefully worked into this resin until resin
squeezed out between the roving. The second
layer of the sheets was rolled and worked into
0.50 kg/m2 of the resin, applied to the first layer.
Finally, an additional 0.50 kg/m2 of resin was
brushed on the surface of the exterior sheet layer.
2.6 Flexural testing
The simply supported beams were tested under
four points-bending test to determine the load–
deflection curves using Dartec compression ma-
chine with a full jack capacity of 2000 kN under a
loading rate of 0.02 kN/s. An LVDT, placed at
the middle point of the bottom of the beam, was
connected to a data acquisition system to measure
mid-span deflection (Fig. 7). All beams were
tested under monotonic increasing load up to
failure.
3 Results and discussion
The flexural behavior of the control, damaged,
and repaired beams was evaluated by studying the
load–deflection diagrams, and their characteris-
tics, namely, the ultimate load capacity, corre-
sponding deflection, stiffness and toughness. The
load–deflection diagrams shown in Figs. 8–11
represent the average of two tested beams. The
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299 293

Fig. 7 Details of the P

flexural test setup

Hinge support Roller support

LVDT

400 mm
1400 mm
1500 mm

slope of the linear portion of the load–deflection

diagrams represents the stiffness of the beam
while the area underneath the diagram represents
toughness. The characteristics of the load–deflec-
tion diagrams for control, heat-damaged and
repaired beams tested in this study are summa-
rized in Table 5. Cracking modes of the beams
after heating and results of flexural testing are
presented and discussed in the following articles.

3.1 Effect of heat treatment

Experimental load versus mid-span deflection

curves for the beams before and after heating
are shown in Fig. 8. Three specific regions can be
identified: a linear region to yield, a transition
region of continuous yield, and a region of full
plastic deformation until failure. The results
indicated a substantial loss of about 28% in the
Fig. 9 Load–deflection for control, damaged, and fibrous
grout repaired beams
ultimate load capacity after heating and an
increase in the corresponding deflection by about
1.4 times than that of the control beams. The

Fig. 10 Load–deflection for control, damaged, and ferro-

Fig. 8 Load–deflection for control and damaged beams cement repaired beams
294 Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299

niques showed an increase in the flexural load

capacity with varying mid-span deflections. In
general, the increase in the ultimate load capacity
is due to the influence of increased moment of
inertia of the composite cross section. The stiff-
ness improved significantly, whereas the tough-
ness decreased.

3.3 Fibrous grout layers

The load–deflection curves for beams repaired

Fig. 11 Load–deflection for control, damaged, and FRP
sheet repaired beams
stiffness of the damaged beam was reduced by
about 56%, due to the reduction in the flexural
rigidity. The toughness of the damaged beams
was almost the same as that of the control ones.
It should be noted that the reduction in flexural
strength of the heat damaged beams is related to
the decrease in concrete strength, and loss in yield
strength of reinforcing steel, and the loss of bond
strength between steel and concrete; whereas the
increase in ductility is related to the increase in
elongation of reinforcing steel at failure upon
heating as shown in Table 1. Since the failure of
heat-damaged beams was controlled by yielding
of the bottom reinforcing steel, the ductility of the
reinforced concrete beams was increased.
3.2 Effect of repair technique
Depending upon the type and properties of the
repair materials used, all types of repair tech-
with fibrous grout layers are shown in Fig. 9.
Beams repaired with HBCSFRC or PPFRC
layers achieved the original load flexural capacity,
and experienced limited reduction in deflections
at ultimate loads; they achieved about 108 and
99% of the original load flexural capacity respec-
tively. The toughness showed a slight increase as
compared to that of control, whereas the stiffness
of beams with HBCSFRC and PPFRC layers
were close to that of control ones.
3.4 Ferrocement laminates
The load versus mid-span deflection relationship
for beams repaired with the three types of
ferrocement layers are illustrated in Fig. 10.
Beams repaired with ferrocement layers showed
a significant increase in ultimate load and a
reduction in the corresponding deflection. The
curves pertaining to repaired beams exhibit sim-
ilar behavior to that of damaged and control ones.
The beams repaired with two and four layers of

Table 5 Load–deflection diagram characteristic for control, heat-damaged and repaired beams
Beam Pult (kN) dult (mm) Stiffness (kN/mm) Toughness (kN mm)

Control 82.3 24.82 5.36 1259

Damaged 58.8 (71.4%)a 34.38 (138.5%) 2.37 (44.2%) 1264 (100.4%)
FR2S 79.9 (97.1%) 18.2 (73.3%) 6.44 (120.2%) 1000 (79.4%)
FR4S 78.5 (95.4%) 20.7 (83.4%) 5.67 (105.8%) 1102 (87.5%)
FR4M 75.9 (92.2%) 13.9 (56%) 8.38 (156.3%) 720 (57%)
HBCSFRC 88.7 (107.8%) 23.3 (93.8%) 5.56 (103.7%) 1392.3 (110.6%)
PPFRC 81.7 (99.3%) 23 (92.6%) 5.25 (97.9%) 1282 (101.8%)
GFRP sheet 104.1 (126.5%) 15.2 (61.2%) 8.58 (160%) 929 (73.7%)
a
= Percentage of control, Pult = Ultimate load capacity at failure, dult = Ultimate deflection at mid-span corresponding to
ultimate load capacity, FR2S = Ferrocement at two layers of small mesh size, FR4S = Ferrocement at four layers of small
mesh size, FR4S = Ferrocement at four layers of medium mesh size, HBCFRC = Hooked and brass-coated fiber reinforced
grout, HPPFRC = High performance polypropylene fiber reinforced grout, GFRP = Glass fiber reinforced polymer
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299
small and medium size wire meshes (FR2S, FR4S
and FR4M) regained a large portion of the
original flexural load capacity and reached about
97, 95 and 92%, respectively. On the other hand,
with respect to deflections of control beams, the
deflections were reduced by 27, 17 and 35%,
respectively. The flexural toughness for beams
with ferrocement layer was reduced compared
with that of the control ones. The percentage
reductions were about 21, 12 and 43% for (FR2S,
FR4S and FR4M), respectively. The stiffness of
the same beams reached as high as 156% of that
of the control ones.
3.5 High-strength fabric sheets system
The load–deflections curves for control and dam-
aged specimens as compared to those repaired
with glass (GFRP) sheets are shown in Fig. 11.
The results reflect the advantage of using the
GFRP in repairing heat-damaged HSC beams.
The flexural load capacity of these beams
exceeded the flexural capacity of control and
damaged HSC beams. The curves pertaining to
(GFRP) beams exhibited linear behavior before
becoming nonlinear prior to failure; indicating
yielding of main reinforcement prior to concrete
crushing. The enhancement in the ultimate load
far exceeded that of control beams by 127%, with
a corresponding decrease in deflections by 39%.
It can be noticed that the stiffness showed
improvements by about 160%, while the flexural
toughness was reduced by about 26%.
The loss of ductility in GFRP strengthened
beams is due to the lower ductility of the GFRP
layers as compared to that of original reinforcing
steel, as indicated by the ultimate strains at failure
that are considerably less than those for steel as
shown in Tables 1 and 4. Since the failure of
repaired and control concrete beams was dictated
by the failure of the extreme bottom fibers, the
beams strengthened with the GFRP layers
showed lower ductility as compared to control
(not strengthened) ones.
The causes for the increase in the flexural
strength of the repaired beams can be explained
as follows: the composites used for repair in this
investigation possess relatively high tensile
strength in longitudinal and transverse directions
295
compared to the parent concrete as seen from
Tables 1 through 4. It has been shown that an
appropriate use of these composites in the form of
a jacket serve as an external reinforcement that
provides a better confinement to the damaged
concrete and leads to an increase in the resisting
moment arm, and thus results in a considerable
increase in the flexural strength of the section.
Larger increase in flexural strength can also be
achieved by ensuring full bonding of the jacket
with the beam surface (e.g. roughening the beam
surface and using concrete screws for improving
shear resistance).
4 Cracking patterns and failure modes
4.1 Cracking after heating
The cracking patterns resulting from heating the
RC beams to 600C are shown in Fig. 12. The
cracks (marked) spread laterally and longitudi-
nally at the location of transverse and longitudi-
nal reinforcements with widths ranging from
0.1 mm to 2 mm. The actual size of these cracks,
measured directly after heating, indicated much
larger values. This behavior is related to the
higher expansion of concrete under heating as
compared to that of embedded steel due to the
difference in the coefficient of thermal expansions
[6]. Because of the relatively high exposure
temperature, the concrete surrounding steel bars
suffered extensive cracking. Upon cooling of
heat-treated concrete beams, cracks sizes were
reduced due to the significant contraction of
embedded longitudinal and transverse reinforcing
Fig. 12 Cracking patterns marked on the surface of a
heated beam
296 Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299

steel. Short cracks in the shape of a spider net
appeared also on the surface of the beams. These
were caused by the combined effects of water
vapor pressure, and decompositions of calcium
hydroxide and possibly calcium silicate hydrate
[6].
4.2 Control and damaged beams
The cracking characteristics and failure modes
of the beams are listed in Table 6. The initial
crack load under flexural loading for damaged
beams exhibited lower value than that of the
control ones by about 50%. Relatively wider
cracks with similar crack spacing and sizes were
observed on the beams throughout the region of
uniform bending moment.

A typical ductile flexural failure was observed in 4.3 Repaired beams

under-reinforced control, and damaged beams.
The flexural cracks increased and propagated
upward in the region of high moment with load
increase. Upon yielding of main steel, the upward
shift of the neutral axis was significant and
resulted in crushing of the concrete in the
compression zone. Small shear cracks of minor
effect were observed throughout the shear spans.
Figure 13 shows a typical failure mode for heat-
damaged beams under flexural loading.
4.3.1 Fibrous layers
The cracking patterns at the soffit of the beams
repaired with fibrous grouts indicated a reduction
in the number of cracks by about 50% and an
increase in the cracks spacing by about 50% as
compared to those of control ones. Wider cracks
spacing were observed in the beam repaired with
HBCSFRC layers compared to those repaired with

Fig. 13 Cracking pattern

for damaged beam

Table 6 Cracking loads and characteristics and mode of failure for different HSC beams
Beam Pcr (kN) Crack width (mm) Cracks number Crack spacing (cm) Mode of failure

Control 10 0.2–2 17 6 Flexural failure

Damaged 5 0.2–1 16 8 Flexural failure
FR2S 10 0.2–1 10 9 Peeling of grout in FR2S layer
FR4S 10 0.3 11 7 Peeling of grout in FR4S layer
FR4M 12 0.2–1 10 5 Yielding of wire mesh
HBCSFRC 20 0.2–5 8 15 Flexural failure
HPPFRC 15 0.2–0.4 7 13 Flexural failure
GFRP 38 <0.1 14 7 Compression failure
FR2S = Ferrocement at two layers of small mesh size, FR4S = Ferrocement at four layers of small mesh size,
FR4S = Ferrocement at four layers of medium mesh size, HBCFRC = Hooked and brass-coated fiber reinforced grout,
HPPFRC = High performance polypropylene fiber reinforced grout, GFRP = Glass fiber reinforced polymer
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299
Fig. 14 Cracking pattern
for beam repaired with
PPFRC layer
PPFRC layer. Typical flexural cracking patterns
for the beams repaired with PPFRC layers are
illustrated in Fig. 14. Repairing with PPFRC and
HBCSFRC layers, resulted in an increase in the
cracking loads as compared with control ones by
about 50% and 100%, respectively.
4.3.2 Ferrocement layers
Visual observations, and statistical evaluation of
the cracks appeared on the tested beams indi-
cated that the ferrocement laminates modified the
cracking patterns at the soffit of the repaired
beams. Closer crack spacing and smaller widths of
the cracks were observed in the beams repaired
compared to the un-repaired ones. The cracks’
spacing and widths at the soffits were reduced by
about 50% and 25%, respectively, as shown in
Table 6. This is due to the significant increase in
the moment of inertia of the cross section and to
the improvement in the tension resistance of the
bottom surface of the repaired beams. The failure
Fig. 15 Cracking pattern
for beam repaired with
FR2S layer
297
mode of the repaired beams depends on the mesh
size used; beams repaired with FR2S and FR4S
layers exhibited peeling failure of the grout from
the wire mesh, whereas those repaired with
FR4M layers showed typical flexural failure
without peeling of the meshes, as shown in
Figs. 15 and 16. The peeling of the outer grout
layers in FR2S and FR4S beams is a result of the
insufficient bonding between the small size wire
mesh and the repair grout caused by the inability
of the coarse sand particles in the repair grout to
penetrate in between the meshes; in contrary to
the case of FR4M beams where the medium size
meshes allowed the grout to form a continuous
matrix through the entire thickness of the repair
layer, and thus allowed the steel mesh to yield
prior to failure without peeling.
4.3.3 High-strength fabric sheets system
The beams repaired with GFRP sheets showed
limited deflection, accompanied with an extensive
298
Fig. 16 Cracking pattern
for beam repaired with
FR4M layer
transverse cracks at the top surface of the upper
compression grout layer, prior to failure. At
higher loads the cracks extended through the
steel studs, used to prevent the slippage of the
upper layer. The load carrying capacity of the
beams kept on increasing till the cracks at the top
and the soffit of the beams propagated in all
directions, followed by sudden drop in the
ultimate load, and thus lead to failure. The
cracking loads for the beams repaired with GFRP
sheets were significantly increased, whereas the
crack width and spacing were reduced as com-
pared to those of control and damaged ones as
shown in Table 6. The GFRP sheets themselves
showed no signs of delamination or failure prior
to main steel yielding and crushing of the upper
layer, indicating that the failure mode of the
beams repaired with GFRP sheets was a com-
pression failure of the upper grout layer prior to
yielding of steel or rupture of the GFRP sheets as
demonstrated in Fig. 17. This type of behavior,
although undesirable, reflected the substantial
contribution of GFRP to the tensile strength of
the bottom surface of the beam. Optimization in
Fig. 17 Cracking pattern
for beam repaired with
GFRP sheet
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299
the design of GFRP layers would overcome this
type of failure.
5 Conclusions
The following conclusions could be drawn from
the experimental results of the present study:
1. Heating high strength reinforced concrete
shallow beams at 600C for 3 h caused
extensive cracking accompanied with a sub-
stantial loss in flexural load capacity, and the
corresponding mid-span deflection, stiffness
and toughness.
2. The beams repaired with fiber glass sheets
(GFRP) regained up to 127% of the control
beam’s ultimate load capacity with a sub-
stantial increase in stiffness, first cracking
loads, and a corresponding decrease in mid-
span deflections at ultimate load.
3. The beams repaired with high strength steel
fiber reinforced concrete jackets (SFRC)
regained up to 106% of the control beam’s
Materials and Structures (2008) 41:287–299
ultimate load capacity with a significant
increase in stiffness, first cracking loads, and
a corresponding decrease in mid-span deflec-
tions at ultimate load.
4. The beams repaired with high performance
polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete jackets
(PPFRC) have shown a marginal improvement
in their flexural behavior without a noticeable
regain in their original load capacity.
5. The beams repaired with two and four layers of
small and medium size wire meshes regained up
to 99% of the control beam’s ultimate load
capacity with a significant increase in stiffness,
and a corresponding decrease in mid-span
deflections and toughness.
6. Under flexural testing, control and heat-
damaged beams showed typical flexural
cracks in the pure bending region and shear-
flexure cracks in the constant shear region.
The repaired beams showed typical flexural
failure with an increase in the first crack load.
7. All the repair techniques proposed in this study,
may be considered as a promising methods for
restoring the flexural capacity of heat damaged
RC members: GFRC being the most effective
and expensive, SFRC and PPFRC effective and
less expensive, followed by ferrocement, the
least expensive and still effective, which may be
considered as a cheaper repair alternative in low
cost construction.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to
acknowledge the support received from the deanship of
scientific research of University of Science and
Technology at Jordan, and the assistance of the
technicians at the engineering workshop and civil
engineering laboratories.
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