REPAIR AND REHABILITATION OF STRUCTURES

STRENGTHENING OF DAMAGED
R.C.C.STRUCTURES WITH
POLYMER MODIFIED
CONCRETE
 Introduction
• The repair and rehabilitation of damaged concrete structures is quite
often in a highly aggressive environment associated with high level of
pollution, high humidity through out the year, high rain fall along with
higher level of chloride contents in the atmosphere.

• Ageing of the structure and persistent use after the design life of the
structure also leads to deterioration of the structures.

• There are various products available for repair and rehabilitation but
polymer modified concrete is most cost effective for improving the
high early compressive strength, tensile and flexural strength and
reducing the brittle nature.
• Polymer-modified concrete particularly latex modified concrete such
as styren-butadine, acrylic latex, polyvinyl acetate, and ethylene
vinyl acetate have been widely used for structural repair and
strengthening.

• Use to repair damaged reinforced concrete elements like beams,

columns, wall etc., where access is restricted and compaction is not
possible and also used for structural strengthening by Jacketing of
RCC columns to increase load carrying capacity.
 Factors affecting selection of repair materials

• Compatibility of the repair materials with the existing substrate and

durability under various conditions in service are of much greater
importance.

• Apart from bond and compressive strength there are some other
properties such as dimensional stability (Shrinkage), coefficient of
thermal expansion, modulus of elasticity and permeability which
should be taken care during selection of a repair material.

• The other factors like permeability, chemical and electrochemical

compatibility should also be considered.

• Final selection of the material or combination of materials must

then take into account the ease of application, cost, and available
labour skills and equipment.
 Properties of Repair material
• The use of polymeric materials for repair of concrete structures has
been widely accepted and most effective.

• A repair material should satisfy the requirements such as good

workability, mix stability, ageing resistance, strength, compatibility
with substrate, adequate adhesion and low volatile content.

• The major properties requirements of the materials are given in

Table:
 Properties of Polymer-resin Polymer-modified Plain
mortar/concrete Cementitious Cementitious

Compressive 50-100 30-60 20-50

strength (MPa)

Tensile strength 10-15 5-10 2-5

(MPa)

Modulus of 10-20 15-25 20-30

elasticity (GPa)

Coefficient of 25-30 x 10-6 10-20 x 10-6 10 x 10-6

thermal expansion
(per oC)

Max. Service temp. 40-80 100-300 >300

(oC)
 Properties of Polymer Modified concrete
• Polymer modified concrete is a ready to use dry powder which
requires only addition of clean water at site to produce a free
flowing non shrink repair. It is a cementitious material with
additives, which impart controlled expansion characteristics in the
plastic state while minimizing water demand.

• It is self compacting with high early and final compressive strength

used where hand applied polymer modified concrete is not possible
due to inaccessible and congested reinforcements.

• High early strength facilitates early re use of the structure.

• There are certain advantages of using micro concrete over normal

concrete. It offers excellent resistance to moisture ingress and
makes repaired sections highly durable. It can be applied up to 100
mm thickness at one stroke and addition of pre-calculated
aggregates of 12 mm down may be required if thickness is more
than 100 mm.
• 60% of compressive strength as high as 30-36 N/mm2 can be
achieved within the first 3 days making it a versatile material for
early reinstatement of the structure.
• Further the strength increases by another 5-10% by 90 days.
• The other desired properties are as follows:
Flexural strength : 5 N/mm2 at 28 days
% water absorption after 24 hrs : 0.45
Chloride content : Nil
Depth of carbonation, mm :Passes the Accelerated carbonation test
• Coverage: 1.3 sqm per 25 kg pack at 10 mm thickness
 Repair Methodology
1)Supports:
• The R C members should be properly supported before chipping the
spalled / loose concrete. The props provided shall be adequate to
provide sufficient structural support to the load carrying members.
2) Surface Preparation of concrete:
• All the spalled cracked concrete or any other pre applied mortar
shall be removed by chipping to expose the reinforcing bars.

• The concrete shall be chipped to a minimum depth of 10mm behind

the reinforcing bars. The areas to be repaired shall be profiled to
get rectangular or square shape with an inward tapering edge

3) Surface preparation of reinforcement :

• The exposed reinforcing bars should be cleaned thoroughly to
remove all traces of rust, scales, etc., by using wire brush, emery
paper etc. The lateral ties/stirrups shall also be cleaned in the same
way.

• After removal of corroded portion, the diameter of the

reinforcement shall be checked and compared with the drawings.
4) Provision of additional reinforcement:
• As the diameter of reinforcing bars is reduced substantially (say
>20%) additional bars shall be provided as per the design. This
additional reinforcement shall be properly anchored to the existing
concrete by providing adequate shear connectors. Weld mesh may
also be provided if found necessary.
5) Provision of shear connectors:
• Shear connectors of 8mm diameter shall be provided in holes of
14mm diameter and 75 mm deep. These shall be provided at every
500 mm c/c on all the faces of the beams in staggered form.
• The holes shall be cleaned with compressed air or water jet to
remove all the dust etc. and then the shear connectors shall be
fixed in the holes using polyester resin anchor grout.
6)Priming of reinforcement bars:
• The exposed and cleaned reinforcing bar shall be provided with a
coat of Epoxy Zinc Primer such that the coated film will have a dry
film thickness of 40 microns. The film shall be continuous especially
in the regions where pitting, imperfections etc., are present on the
surface of the bars.

• It is important that the rear portion of the bars should not be left
without coating. A second coat if needed may be provided to
achieve a uniform and continuous film. The additional
reinforcement provided and also the shear connectors shall be
coated with Epoxy Zinc Primer.

• The weld mesh if provided shall also be coated with Epoxy Zinc
Primer.
 7)Provision of Epoxy based bonding agent:
• The base and hardener component of epoxy resin based bonding
agent must be mixed well to get a uniform grey coloured mix.

• Apply the material to properly cleaned and dry concrete substrate

using stiff nylon brush by scrubbing it well into the substrate. The
coat should be uniform and well spread on the entire surface area
of the repair patch.

• The mixed material must be applied before the elapse of its pot life
and the new repair mortar must be applied before the elapse of
overlay time.

• As a fully dried epoxy resin coat acts as debonding layer, the repair
material should be applied while the bonding coat is tacky. In case
the applied epoxybond coat gets dry, an extra coat should be
applied before application of repair mortar.
8)Formwork and shuttering:
• Slurry tight and strong form work shall be provided. The shuttering
for encasement shall be kept ready such that the formwork shall be
placed in position and fixed such that the micro concrete can be
poured into the formwork within the overlay time of the bonding
agent (5 hours).

• Adequate supports shall be provided for the formwork. Care should

be taken to ensure leak proof shuttering.

• Under no circumstance the slurry should flow out of the shuttering

during pouring of micro concrete.
9)Mixing of micro concrete:
• It should be mixed using the appropriate water powder ratio as
mentioned in the product data sheet. The mixing shall be done
mechanically and under no circumstance hand mixing shall be
done.

• Mixing shall be carried out for 3 to 5minutes to ensure that

homogeneous mix is obtained without any bleeding or segregation.
In hot climate ice cooled water shall be used to maintain the
temperature of mixed material.

• If the encasing thickness is more than 100 mm, add stone

aggregates up to 50 % by weight of micro concrete to the mixed
micro concrete directly into the mixer hopper.

• The stone aggregates must be 12 mm and down and shall be clean,

washed and dried. The mixing should be done for 3 minutes in
mixer and then pre weighed stone aggregates into the mixer. Mix
further for 2 minutes till lump free mix is obtained
Additional reinforcements Strengthening of column with micro
provided for jacketing concrete
10)Deshuttering:
• The shuttering from the sides of the R C members shall be removed
after a period of 24 hours. However, the formwork of the soffit shall
be retained and removed after 3 days.
11)Pouring of micro concrete:
• The mixer should be poured into the formwork using a suitable
funnel or through a hose pipe. It must be poured from one end
only. A suitable hopper / funnel arrangement shall be made at site
to facilitate the pouring operations.
• The pouring operation shall be continuous and it shall not be
stopped unless the job is completed.
• To achieve this sufficient mixers / drilling machines and wok force
shall be arranged at site.
12)Curing:
• All the repaired and encased area shall be fully cured as per
standard concrete practices. Curing compound shall be used for
effective curing of sides and soffits of beams. If a curing compound
is applied, care shall be taken to ensure that proper surface
preparation is carried out so as to remove any traces of curing
compound on the surface. If this is not done, it may lead to
debonding of any protective coating applied on top.
Preparation for micro concrete of a Repair of a column with micro concrete
column
Preparation for micro concrete of a Repair of a beam with micro concrete
beam
 Tests for effectiveness of repair
• Performance of a concrete repair needs to be measured in physical
terms and other parameters such as environmental effects, safety
and whole-life costs.

• The polymeric repair materials fail due to improper surface

preparation, wrong application methods, incompatibility of the
repair material with the original concrete etc.

• The most of the failure takes place at the interface of the bonding
for which bond strength is very important.

• All corrosion related cracks should be tested by corrosion analyzer

etc.

• Structural crack repairs should be tested for an in-situ non

destructive load testing to demonstrate satisfactory performance
under an overload above the design working value after 28 days.
 Conclusion
• Based on above test results and application, polymer modified
concrete is a free flowing, self leveling, self compacting and high
early strength material which is being effectively used for structural
strengthening of deteriorated RCC members of column and beam in
an aggressive environment.

• It can also be used for additional load carrying of those structural

members by method of jacketing.
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