SANGA REDDY: The civil infrastructure industry is under pressure to upgrade the structures that have dilapidated due to ageing and corrosion. A survey shows that several bridges and offshore structures are at the end of their life and require immediate structural strengthening. A number of railway bridges are also in need of immediate strengthening.
The civil engineering industry has gradually accepted FRP (fiber-reinforced polymer) composites to repair and rehabilitate concrete structures. CASTCON Lab at the IIT Hyderabad has developed an innovative hybrid FRP strengthening technique to improve the strength and ductility of structures to bear different loads.
The FRP strengthening has numerous advantages over conventional strengthening methods such as concrete and steel jacketing due to its lesser weight to strength ratio, corrosive resistance, easy installation, and higher durability. However, there are no Indian standards (IS) available for FRP strengthening at the moment. Most of the previous research work had focused on circular and non-circular columns to erect buildings and bridges. The present research focuses on understanding the size, shape, and slenderness effect on the hybrid FRP strengthening.
Presenting their Hybrid FRP strengthening technique, Prof Suriya and PhD scholar Malleshwar, department of civil engineering at IIT Hyderabad said, the hybrid FRP strengthening technique is a very efficient solution to improve the strength and ductility for structural elements of bridges and buildings. “We are developing an efficient analytical model for developing the design guidelines that engineers can use,” they said.