BEHAVIOUR OF STEEL REINFORCED CONCRETE COLUMNS STRENGTHENED WITH CARBON FIBRE REINFORCED POLYMER (CFRP)

This paper investigated the use of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer for increasing strengtheningof Reinforced Concrete Columns. Squared Reinforced Concrete Columns were selected for thestudy, being them more frequently used in building, The performance of the columns wrapped withCFRP were compared to non-wrapped column (control). Twelve columns with cross-sectionaldimensions 100mmX100mmX375mm with constant corner radius of 15mm, were tested underaxial loading. Three columns each were wrapped with one and two layer of CFRP respectively,and the remaining three columns were not wrapped as they served as the control columns.Experimental results showed increased ductility from 17% and 22.6% respectively for columnspecimens wrapped with one and two layers of CFRP compared to the control specimens. Also,increase in axial load-carrying capacity up to 60% and 129% were respectively achieved forcolumn specimens wrapped with one and two layers of CFRP compared to the control specimens.