ABSTRACT This study investigates the effectiveness of steel‐reinforced grout (SRG) for strengthening continuous reinforced concrete (RC) beams. A more sustainable alternative to conventional cementitious mortars, geopolymer mortar was employed in SRG‐strengthened RC beams while maintaining structural efficiency. An extensive experimental program involving 15 two‐span continuous RC beam specimens was conducted. The experimental parameters considered include the overall SRG stiffness (by varying the number of fabric layers and fabric density), the span coverage ratio, and the locations of strengthening. Additionally, the performance of steel fabrics in SRG was compared with other types of fabrics, including carbon, glass, and polyparaphenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO) fabrics. The results revealed that strengthening significantly enhanced the flexural capacity of the beams, with improvements ranging from 24% to 81%. Steel fabrics in SRG outperformed all other fabric types in terms of load‐carrying capacity. Low‐density SRG demonstrated superior bonding with the concrete substrate, leading to enhanced strengthening effects compared to high‐density SRG. Several failure modes were observed, including steel yielding, concrete cover separation, fabric rupture and slippage, and SRG debonding. A theoretical model based on SRG effective strain was utilized to predict the maximum load capacity of the strengthened beams.
Ibrahim et al. (Wed,) studied this question.