Glass fiber as reinforcement in cement mortar for the repair of plain concrete members.

Maintenance and rehabilitation of concrete structures have become a very significant section of the activities of concrete manufacture. Concrete structures, such as beams, slabs, and columns may require maintenance or repair during their service life. Different repair materials are available, and it is usually difficult to choose the best ones, especially when considering the cost of such materials. This paper presents information that arises from a large project on the evaluation of the performance and durability of repair materials being carried out at the civil engineering materials unit, University of Bani Waleed. Because proprietary compounds are relatively expensive and because the life cost of a repaired structure is also potentially very high, there is much need to provide engineers and specifiers with independent data with which to make appropriate decisions in this field. The results of an experimental investigation of patch repair materials on plain concrete prisms were presented in this paper. Glass fiber-reinforced mortar with different mechanical properties mix produced in the lab was used in the study. Prisms were repaired using different glass fiber reinforcement percentages. The experimental work included assessment of the flexural strength of the repaired plain concrete prisms; the test results showed that all the fiber-reinforced mortar performed well in restoring the strength of the repaired plain concrete. The compatibility of the repaired reinforced mortar with substrate concrete was also found to be significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]