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Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) strengthening is a possible option when the load carrying capacity of a structure needs to be increased for various reasons. On the other hand, the focus nowadays aims to save the environment by reducing the waste material. A suggestion was made to use waste concrete as an aggregate. If this new material was used more, it would be possible to use recycle concrete aggregate (RCA) and carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) to strengthen reinforced concrete (RC) structures and make them more environmentally friendly. An experimental investigation study on the shear behaviour of RC beams strengthened with CFRP strips was carried out. Tests were conducted on six reinforced concrete beams, with variations in the replacement ratio of RCA and strengthened by different configurations of CFRP under four-point loading. The results indicated that the load carrying capacity was increased, on average, by 18.09 and 35.04% for beams strengthened with CFRP with an inclined strip (IS) and continuous strip (CS) configurations respectively. The results also indicated that the increases in the stiffness were 21.08 and 37.31 for beams strengthened with CFRP in the IS and CS configurations, respectively. In addition the ductility of the beams increased after strengthening.

The construction activities are based on structural concrete, which is one of the most commonly used materials. The fundamental aim of using lightweight concrete (LWC) was to reduce the concrete self-weight of the structure parts. As a result, LWC has been used successfully in a variety of installations for several years. In this paper, the mechanical properties of concrete made with lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA) as a full replacement for coarse aggregate are studied. The experimental program shows that LECA with a 32 MPa cube compressive strength and an 1,823 kg×m–3 dry density can be used to make structural light-weight aggregate concrete (SLWC). The results show that the reduction in the strength of lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) was found to be higher in the concrete with an estimated compressive strength of 32 MPa due to the lower strength of the LWA (expanded clay). According to the test results, the mechanical properties of LWC were greatly improved by adding silica fume (SF). Furthermore, LECA concrete has a splitting tensile strength that is 47% higher than the ASTM C330/C330M-17A minimum requirement. The LECA concrete has a splitting tensile strength to compressive strength ratio of approximately 13%. Additionally, the results demonstrate a 27% difference in the modulus of elasticity between the calculated and tested values.