Comparative experimental study of concrete reparation with carbon epoxy & bio-resourced composites.

Highlights • Bio-resourced composite is efficient for strengthening and repairing concretes. • Bio-resourced and carbon-epoxy composites efficiency is comparable for containment. • Bio-resourced composites are less efficient for repairing than carbon-epoxy ones. Abstract Carbon fiber reinforced polymer CFRP has been attracting to repair concrete structures in the last 40 years due to its high mechanical performances and low weight. However using CFRP is still an expensive option and does not match with sustainable development. This paper aims to compare both effects of CFRP and flax fiber reinforced polymer FFRP on repairing by confining mechanically damaged cylindrical concrete specimens under compression. External use of flax fiber is investigated experimentally and analytically in order to check how far it can replace CFRP to repair concrete structures. For this purpose, two compressive damage levels are applied to cylindrical concrete specimens before confining them with three different types of composites. Results showed that using two layers of FFRP composites for repairing damaged concrete lead to slightly lower performances than those when using CFRP ones. FFRP composites allowed not only enhancing properties of damaged concrete strength by 150%, but also giving a great ductility to confined concrete specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]