Compressive Strength of Uncured Concrete Cylinders Fully Wrapped with Post-Tensioned Metal Straps (PTMS).

Abstract

During a national lock down and a curfew, most of the concrete projects are left without curing and therefore, the elements of the building need strengthening. An effective way in strengthening is using Post-Tensioned Metal Straps (PTMS) which is a relatively new method. Therefore, in this study, the effectiveness of using PTMS is tested in strengthening cylinder samples without curing. For this purpose, 15 cylinders are cast and 12 of them are left without curing for 28 days. Three samples are tested without any strengthening and are used as control samples. The rest are strengthened using 1, 2, 3, and full layers of PTMS. To compare the strength of the cylinders, 3 cylinders of the same batch are prepared and cured for 28 days. It is proved that the compressive strength of the cylinders can increase by 39%, 57%, 84% and 125% if the samples are strengthened using 1, 2, 3, and full layers of PTMS. It is also found that the failure becomes ductile as the number of layers is increased.