Experimental Study on Rehabilitation of RC Beams Using Epoxy Resins

This study investigates the use of three different types of Epoxy Resin materialsviz., EXPACRETE SNE1, LAPOX B-47 and HARDENER K-46, and CONBEXTRA EP10, 65 120 for repairing the reinforced concrete beams. In this research, 6 standard size beams (150x230x1500mm) for M50 grade of concrete were distress in flexure by applying two points load by taking 90% of the ultimate load. Then, these distressed beams were repaired and retested up to ultimate failure load.The aim of this study is to determine the suitability of Epoxy Resin material type to be used in RCC beams for repairing and restoring good strength and for considering economical aspects. Hardened concrete specimens were tested for compression, and flexural test. The results of these experiments show that the beams repaired using Epoxy Resin material (EXPACRETE SNE1) gave higher increase in the ultimate load than other Epoxy Resin materials.The flexural strength increased significantly up to about 15 percent for concrete beams repaired with epoxy resin material (EXPACRETE SNE1) compared to other epoxy resin materials. Deflections were smaller in reinforced concrete beams with epoxy resin compared to conventional concrete beams. Compare to all the three types of epoxy resin materials used i.e. EXPACRETE SNE1 is cheaper than other two materials. Though reinforced concrete beams repaired with epoxy resins is costlier comparatively, it is cheaper than to reconstruct the structure.