Strengthening concrete elements by confinement within textile reinforced concrete (TRC) shells – Static and impact properties

• Cement elements were strengthened using textile reinforced concrete (TRC) shells.
• Strengthened elements were tested in flexural bending, static and impulse.
• Carbon TRC provided maximum improvement with lowest reinforcement efficiency.
• Glass and PE TRCs provided similar improvement with higher reinforcement efficiency.
• Ductile PE TRC provided lower load capacity but similar energy/impulse absorption.

In this paper the mechanical behavior under static and impact loading of concrete elements strengthened with shells of textile reinforced concrete (TRC) made of carbon, alkali-resistant glass and polyethylene fabrics is presented. Testing of the strengthened elements for flexure by static and impact loading showed that the TRC reinforced elements exhibited an improvement in load capacity, energy absorption and impulse absorption. The improvement in static loading was found to be higher than in impact loading. The carbon TRC layers provided the greatest improvement and the polyethylene TRC layers the smallest. These results correlate well with the behavior of the TRC shells and with the properties of the fabrics themselves.