Bending of beams externally reinforced with TRC and CFRP monitored by DIC and AE

Strengthening and repairing existing reinforced concrete structures is often more economical and sustainable than rebuilding them. Today the most commonly used technique here fore is the application of externally bonded Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP). Still, they do not answer the need for a temperature resistant, fire safe and economical solution. High performance glass fibre Textile Reinforced Cements (TRC) can offer an answer to these drawbacks. A validation of this TRC technique against the existing and established one of CFRP is still needed. The Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Acoustic Emission (AE) measuring techniques are applied to monitor the bending, cracking and failure behaviour of a reference beam, a similar beam with additional external CFRP reinforcement and a similar precracked and non-precracked beam externally reinforced with TRC. Four-point bending tests indicate the successful complementary use of DIC and AE and prove that TRC as an external reinforcement for concrete beams actually works.