Emergency Retrofit of Shear Damaged Extremely Short RC Columns Using Pre-tensioned Aramid Fiber Belts

Abstract

The seismic retrofit of existing RC buildings, which are vulnerable to seismic excitation, remains an active area of research. Emergency retrofit is necessary for rehabilitation of damaged RC buildings immediately after earthquake occurrences. The emergency retrofit technique is a laborsaving, quick and dry process. From such viewpoints, an emergency retrofit of RC columns damaged in earthquakes is proposed in this study. The pre-tensioned aramid fiber belt acts as a shear strengthening element as well as an axial capacity recovery method since the belt provides transverse confinement for the column. The retrofit method sufficiently recovers the earthquake performance as long as the damage caused by the earthquake is within the moderate level and the column can sustain the vertical load.