Regular Article

Effect of marine environment on the behaviour of concrete structures reinforced by composite materials

¹ Univ. Artois, ULR 4515, Laboratoire de Génie Civil et géo-Environnement (LGCgE), Béthune 62400, France
² TechSub-Industry and Environnement, Saint Laurent Blangy, 62223, France

^* e-mail: abdelkader.haddi@univ-artois.fr

Received: 11 October 2019
Accepted: 8 April 2020

Abstract

This study deals with experimental investigations of beam performances in a marine environment. Two kinds of concrete beams, unreinforced and reinforced with carbon plates and carbon rods, are being tested. The first one is stored in a laboratory, the other is exposed to a marine environment located in the north of France. After 12 months, all beams are tested via a four-point bending test in a laboratory. Results obtained have shown that beams stored in marine environment have a better behaviour than those stored in laboratory. It should be noted that no damage has occurred on these beams. However, we observe a significant increase of load of about 32% to 48% causing the first crack observed on the beams stored in marine environment compared to those stored in the laboratory. This means that beams in situ offer increased stiffness and a slight gain of failure loads. This may be due to the development of living organisms (in a marine environment) which acted as additional adhesive and sealing, providing a protection of concrete structures against damage.