FRP CONFINEMENT OF FIRE-DAMAGED CALCARENITE SAMPLES

In this work, experimental tests carried out on San Julian's stone samples (a calcarenite with which are constructed almost all the historical buildings of the city of Alicante, Spain) were made to assess the effect of FRP retrofitting after high temperature damage. Samples were exposed to real fire in the facilities of the Provincial Consortium of Firemen of Alicante. Besides, two different cooling methods were used: dry cooled at room temperature and fast cooling by spraying with cold water. In addition, two different FRP wrapping systems were used: carbon and glass unidirectional fibre fabrics, both embedded in epoxy resin. Fire-damaged specimens suffered a remarkable loss of strength and stiffness, greater in water cooled samples. The FRP jacket changes the mechanical behaviour and stress-strain curves showed an approximately bilinear response, with compressive stresses at failure in the order of 50 MPa and ultimate strain between 3-4%.