Experimental study on hollow steel-reinforced concrete-filled GFRP tubular members under axial compression

Abstract

Hollow steel-reinforced concrete-filled GFRP tubular member is a new kind of composite members. Firstly set the mold in the GFRP tube (non-bearing component), then set the longitudinal reinforcements with stirrups (steel reinforcement cage) between the GFRP tube and the mold, and filled the concrete between them. Through the axial compression test of the hollow steel-reinforced concrete-filled GFRP tubular member, the working mechanism and failure modes of composite members were obtained. Based on the experiment, when the load reached the ranges of 55-70%Pu (Pu-ultimate load), white cracks appeared on the surface of the GFRP tubes of specimens. At that time, the confinement effects of the GFRP tubes on core concrete were obvious. Keep loading, the ranges of white cracks were expanding, and the confinement effects increased proportionally. In addition, the damages of specimens, which were accompanied with great noise, were marked by fiber breaking and resin cracking on the surface of GFRP tubes, also accompanied with concrete crushing. The bearing capacity of the axially compressed components increased with the increase of reinforcement ratio, and decreased with the increase of hollow ratio. When the reinforcement ratio was increased from 0 to 4.30%, the bearing capacity was increased by about 23%. When the diameter of hollow part was decreased from 55mm to 0, the bearing capacity was increased by about 32%.