Compressive behaviour of FRP-steel wire mesh composite tubes filled with seawater and sea sand concrete

Abstract

A new structural type of seawater and sea sand concrete (SWSSC)-filled fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) and steel wire mesh composite tube (SFWCT) was proposed. The steel wire mesh, working as an intermediate layer, was embedded in two layers of FRP. Due to the high corrosion resistance of FRP, the steel wire mesh could maintain a long-term stable working state while the core concrete was effectively confined. Three series of specimens were tested under compressive loading. The test parameters mainly included the number of layers of steel wire mesh, the FRP type and the FRP thickness. The results show that the time to failure was significantly reduced with the new design, as the steel wire mesh could effectively decrease the degree of damage in the specimens and prevent the specimens from immediately losing their bearing capability due to the sudden fracture of the FRP. The accuracies of relevant models were evaluated with the test data, and the model with the best performance was suggested. Moreover, the full stress–strain curves of SFWCTs under compression were simulated, and the calculated results were satisfactory.