Evaluation of efficacy of basalt textile fabric on retrofitting of damaged reinforced concrete external beam–column joints

Beam–column joints are crucial elements in reinforced concrete framed structures. These are prone to failure during seismic action and may result in structural collapse. In this context, retrofitting of joint demands a deep attention. This paper presents the results of numerical investigation of retrofitting of an external beam–column joint by externally bonded basalt fabrics using ANSYS along with experimental findings. An external beam–column joint using strong column-weak beam concept was modeled by using appropriate elements available in ANSYS. Three specimens of the joint were experimentally investigated and tested under simulated static loading condition. These were considered as control specimens. Based on the results, the deformations corresponding to a load level equivalent to 60% of average ultimate load were simulated to a new model which was considered as a damaged specimen. By using another suitable element available in ANSYS, the retrofitting using basalt fabric was simulated in the new model in four different configurations and their behavior was analyzed. Two specimens each were experimentally studied. The numerical investigation results show that basalt textile reinforcement enhances the performance of the retrofitted specimens and the results arrived from ANSYS showed good agreement with experimental results.