Ultra-High-Strength Concrete-Filled FRP Tubes: Compression Tests on Square and Rectangular Columns

Abstract

This paper presents the partial results of an experimental program undertaken to investigate the behavior of square and rectangular ultra-high-strength concrete (UHSC)-filled fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) tubes (UHSCFFTs) under axial compression. The effects of the amount of confinement, cross-sectional aspect ratio and corner radius were investigated experimentally through the tests of 24 concrete-filled FRP tubes (CFFTs) that were manufactured using unidirectional carbon fiber sheets and UHSC with 108 MPa average compressive strength. Test results indicate that sufficiently confined square and rectangular UHSCFFTs can exhibit highly ductile behavior. The results also indicate that HSCFFTs having tubes of low confinement effectiveness may experience a significant strength loss at the point of transition on their stress-strain curves. Examination of the test results have led to a number of important observations on the influence of corner radius and sectional aspect ratio, which are presented and discussed in the paper.