Using Friction-Transfer test to Study the Compressive Strength of Repair Mortars and the Effect of Prestress on the Adhesion between Mortar and Concrete Substrate

Given the damages to concrete structures caused by different factors, some materials should be used to repair and strengthen them. In general, cement-based mortars are used to repair concrete structures. The shrinkage and inappropriate compaction of repair mortars can reduce the bond strength between mortar and concrete substrate. the shrinkage is an important problem that has an adverse effect on the adhesion between repair mortar and concrete substrate. The shrinkage can create tensile stress inside mortars, leading to cracking due to their low tensile strength. The mortar-substrate interface is of great importance since the improper compaction can create fine pores and lower the bond strength.The suitable compaction of repair mortar while applying it on the concrete substrate is an effective factor in increasing the adhesion between the mortar and concrete. The mortar-substrate interface is of great importance since the improper compaction can create fine pores and lower the bond strength. Therefore, in this study, different prestresses were imposed on repair mortar to evaluate their effects on the shear and tensile bond strength between repair mortar and concrete substrate using friction-transfer and pull-off tests. The role of curing in reducing the shrinkage of mortars was also evaluated. The semi-destructive friction-transfer and pull-off tests were then used to assess the in-situ compressive strength of cement-based mortars. By calculating the correlation coefficient and plotting the calibration curves, relationships were provided to convert the measurements obtained from the semi-destructive tests to the compressive strength of the mortars. Eventually, the cracks and stresses that appeared in the specimens were presented using finite element ABAQUS software. The obtained results indicated the effect of prestress on increasing the shear and tensile bond strength between the concrete substrate and repair layers. Moreover, a high correlation coefficient was found between the measurements of the in-situ and laboratory tests. A good agreement was also observed between the finite element modeling and the experimental results. In some researches, friction transfer and pull-off tests have been used to compare the compressive strength of fiber-reinforced mortars and polymer-modified mortars with the results of the above tests, which has resulted in a very high correlation coefficient between the results.Imposing a prestress of 0.5 kg/cm2 resulted in an increase of 30.1% and 31.4%, respectively, in the shear and tensile bond strength between the repair mortar and the concrete substrate at the age of 90 days. Imposing a prestress of 0.1 kg/cm2 resulted in an increase by 7.5% and 5.8%, respectively, in the shear and tensile bond strength between the repair mortar and the concrete substrate at the age of 90 days. Keeping the specimen in the free space resulted in 64% more shrinkage compared to the one cured in water. The friction-transfer and pull-off test results had a correlation coefficient of more than 0.98 with the repair mortar's compressive strength. Therefore, these tests can be used to evaluate the in-situ compressive strength of mortars. The compressive strength of repair mortar can be calculated by substituting x for the friction-transfer and pull-off test results, respectively, in the equations y=10x-0.805 and y=17.32x+1.83.