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

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.