Investigation of concrete structural elements reinforced with artificial and natural fibrous materials

After the earthquakes that took place in Elazig on January 24, 2020 and in Izmir on October 30, 2020, CFRP (carbon fiber) is widely used in reinforcement applications in buildings with moderate damage and fires. However, petroleum-derived and non-biodegradable CFRP is imported from a small number of countries because its production requires high technology and its cost is high. For this reason, many researchers have investigated non-organic materials such as glass fiber and basalt fiber, as well as organic materials obtained from many plant species such as industrial hemp, which are natural fibers, in order to develop alternative products to CFRP. With the increase in global environmental pollution, the demand for recyclable, non-polluting, antibacterial resources is increasing in many areas. Considering the widespread effect of the construction sector in our country, the construction of sustainable structures to be built in this area increases its importance. As in every field, natural materials can be used as an alternative to various applications made with existing construction techniques, as well as natural materials can be used as an alternative to various applications applied in the field of construction. It is possible to use rods made of natural fibers instead of steel reinforcement, which is one of the current applications of construction, and to use natural fibers instead of materials such as carbon fiber and glass fiber used in reinforcing reinforced concrete structures. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the use of hemp, which can be made with environmentally friendly technologies that require less energy consumption, as an alternative to artificial materials used in the reinforcement of reinforced concrete structures, and which can be recycled as waste, as a reinforced concrete structure strengthening element in the construction sector. In this thesis, the strength of hemp and other natural fibers compared to non-natural materials was compared as an experimental and numerical model.