Theoretical and Experimental Flexural Behavior of Steel Bars-Reinforced Concrete Beams Strengthened with Cementitious Mortars Based on Dune Sands

This paper presents theoretical and experimental investigations to analyze the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with a cementitious mortar based on the dune sand varying the cover thickness and the reinforcement ratio. After a suitable cure of beam specimens in the laboratory, they submitted to progressive loadings until the failure. The results obtained show that the flexural capacity of the strengthened beam is about 134.44 KN, which is 96% of that of the reference beam for a reinforcement ratio of 1.2% environ (over-reinforcement section). However, for ratios of 0.5% and 0.8% environ (under-reinforcement section), the flexural peak load and the failure load of the strengthened beam and those of the reference beam are similar. Deflections of strengthened beams are in general reduced compared to those of reference beams. The repair dune sand mortar could be used to enhance the flexural capacity and the ductility of damaged reinforced concrete beams strengthened with dune sand mortars. Theoretical results compared to those obtained from experimental tests, in terms of deflections and ductility, are generally in good agreement.