Axial Compression Capacity of Shear-Damaged Reinforced Concrete Columns and Lashing Belt Prestressing

Abstract

The compressive strength and ductility of concrete can be considerably improved by lateral confinement. In this study, an emergency seismic retrofit technique using lashing belt prestressing is used as to manually retrofit damaged reinforced concrete (RC) columns. The initial prestressing is an important aspect of this technique and is introduced by the ratchet buckle. Thus, this technique offers active and passive confinement as well as shear strengthening. Furthermore, diagonal cracks in the damaged RC columns can be closed by using the active confinement of lashing belts, and the lateral and vertical load-carrying capacity and ductility of the damaged RC columns are recovered. In this study, the recovered axial compression capacity of the retrofitted RC columns and repaired RC columns using epoxy resin was investigated. Finally, the hysteretic behavior of the shear-damaged RC columns after the proposed emergency retrofit was investigated.