Análise da eficiência de compósitos de fibra de carbono utilizados como reforço estrutural em pilares esbeltos de concreto armado

Abstract

Concrete structures, in general, have a limited useful life, and after this period, an intervention is necessary. However, many structures while still young have their shelf life time reduced due to pathological problems. Slender pieces are more vulnerable to attack by aggressive agents, as they may not have enough reserves to deal with them, as well as being more flexible and consequently more susceptible to bigger deformation. The reinforcement of a structure has as main purpose the restoration of the safety and guarantee of the durability during its useful life. Fiber reinforced polymers are an alternative for reinforcing structures, as they have properties such as tensile strength, corrosion resistance, low specific weight, good shock damping and electromagnetic insulation. Despite this, its use is not yet widespread in civil construction. In this sense, its use as structural reinforcement must be studied in different components of structures, in order to evaluate its efficiency and to propagate its advantages in comparison to other methods, since there is still some difficulty of acceptance in the market mainly due to the cost. This research aims to analyze the efficiency of carbon fiber composites used as structural reinforcement in thin columns of reinforced concrete, through compression tests on columns without reinforcement and with one, two and three layers of carbon fiber, whose reinforcement is guaranteed by the confinement of the pieces. In order to measure the deformation of the columns, two digital meter clocks were positioned on the axes perpendicular to the transversal sections. It was analyzed that there is an increase in the load capacity with the application of one layer of carbon fiber compared to the column without reinforcement, however, the resistance does not increase with the addition of layers. The fiber-coated columns were more ductile, showing the ability to revert the deformation after the relief of the load.