Behavior of short concrete cylinders partially confined with GFRP composites

Abstract

The confinement with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composites of the concrete columns is effective in increasing their capacity as many authors have shown, but few studies dealt with partially wrapped columns. The main objective of this work is to study the influence of the partially confinement with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composites on the behavior of the concrete cylinder under axial compressive load. Different heights of the confined area are considered in order to follow the evolution of the global mechanical response of the cylinder according to the parameter ‘x / h’ which represents the ratio of the height of the confined zone to the total height of the cylinder. The numerical results show that the partial confinement increases the ultimate stress of the confined short concrete cylinder and influences the mode of rupture. The confrontation of the numerical results with the experimental one shows a good concordance.