A new testing method for textile reinforced concrete under impact load

Textile reinforced concrete, especially textile reinforced concrete with carbon fibres, was already been used for strengthening steel reinforced concrete structures under static loads up to now. The question is if the composite can also be used for strengthening structures against impact loads. The main goal of a current research project at the Technische Universität Dresden is the development and characterization of a reinforcement fabric with optimized impact resistance. But there is a challenge. There is the need to find the best combination of fibre material (glass, carbon, steel, basalt, …) and reinforcement structure (short fibres, 2D-fabrics, 3D-fabrics, …), but testing the large number of possible combinations is not possible with the established methods. In general, large-scale tests are necessary which are very expensive and time consuming. Therefore, a new testing method has been developed to deal with this large number of possible combinations of material and structural experiments. The following paper describes this new testing method to find the best fabric reinforcement for strengthening reinforced concrete structures against impact loads. The testing devise, which is located in the drop tower facility at the Otto Mohr Laboratory, and the test set-up are illustrated and described. The measurement equipment and the methods to evaluate the experimental results are explained in detail