Repair and rehabilitation with fiberglass rebar

A vast amount of concrete structures is deteriorating. Immediate steps need to be taken in order to resume their integrity and serviceability. In the recent decades it has become evident that the deteriorated objects need structural rehabilitation. It must be admitted that repairs would be costly, yet the expenses might be even greater if the repairs are ill-conceived and low-quality materials are used. The rehabilitation can be considered successful from the technical and financial viewpoint only if the design is properly completed, maintenance strategies are executed in an appropriate way and sustainable construction materials are used.

Reinforced concrete structures have one major drawback: their steel reinforcement becomes corroded, which affects their durability. Concrete objects can also deteriorate prematurely due to fire damage, architectural faults, harsh chemical attacks.

So the predominant reason for the concrete objects failure are problems with their steel reinforcement. It prevents them from reaching their expected service life despite intense maintenance. For this reason, sustainable reinforcement materials are enjoying the steadily increasing demand.

Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) for rehabilitation

GFRP reinforcement should be considered as an efficient and sustainable alternative to conventional materials. It resists corrosion impeccably, it is easy to install, it can boast of flexible design and requires just minimum maintenance. These are just a few of its features that encourage the use of GFRP rebar with the aim of rehabilitating the structures.

Thanks to their appealing features, GFRP materials showcase impressive potential for use in civil engineering applications. Such materials can be employed to upgrade the existing RC objects, for instance: buildings, bridges, roads bridges, roads, and so on. Due to them long-lasting buildings can be erected in corrosive environments. GFRP materials are financially affordable to install and maintain, and their lifecycle expenses are quite low. Their performance properties can be easily tailored to the needs of a particular object. Because of all these favourable properties, civil engineering communities should consider using advanced composite materials both for constructing new structures and rehabilitating the already existing ones.

With fiberglass rebar reinforcement, civil objects can easily exceed their standard 100 years service life. Which is important, GFRP reinforcement requires just minimal maintenance to achieve and surpass this limit. GFRP materials can be employed for a concrete member repair or rehabilitation if it’s structurally degraded. It can enhance live and dead loads, help cope with architectural flaws and successfully meet the norms and standards of today’s design.

Concrete corrosion is a widespread phenomenon that leads to structural degradation, which tends to be more significant if a structure is surrounded by an aggressive environment. It might be quite costly to implement GFRP reinforcement. Still it’s economically viable because it reduces labor costs, accelerates the construction process and requires minimum maintenance. By lightweight reinforcement civil engineers can rehabilitate a structure in the shortest time possible, without interrupting the traffic too much. That is to say, indirect expensftues for rehabilitating deteriorated concrete objects with the help of with composite fiberglass rebar turn out to be significantly lower.

Consider using fiberglass rebar for a project of yours if you want concrete reinforcement to extend the service life of deteriorating structures in a sustainable way while keeping it safe and comfortable to use. Kompozit 21 specializes in manufacturing and selling top quality fiberglass rebar & mesh that can be applied both to rehabilitate old projects and to create new ones. Feel free to get in touch with us to get to know the details!