Experimental and numerical investigation into locally corroded circular concrete-filled steel tubular stub columns strengthened by CFRP

Concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) is vulnerable to corrosion in service, especially local corrosion. Nevertheless, limited work has been conducted on the behaviors and strengthening methods of locally corroded CFSTs. This paper presents experimental and numerical investigations into the behavior of locally corroded CFST stub columns and locally corroded CFST stub columns strengthened by carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). Tests were conducted on thirteen specimens with local corrosion of steel tubes simulated by means of artificial notches, and the notch length and number of CFRP layers were chosen as test parameters. The test results revealed that the performance of the specimens strengthened by CFRP was significantly improved, compared with that of the unstrengthened specimens. The maximum compression resistance increment of the CFRP-strengthened specimens was up to 58.8%. Subsequently, finite element (FE) models were developed and verified by the experimental results. Based on the FE models, parametric analyzes were conducted to investigate the axial behavior of locally corroded circular CFST stub columns strengthened by CFRP. The parametric analysis results indicated that CFRP can compensate for the loss of confinement effect of steel tube caused by local corrosion. In addition, when the hoop force provided by CFRP is equal to that provided by the yield stress of steel tube, the compression resistance of locally corroded CFST stub columns strengthened by CFRP is even slightly higher than that of CFST stub columns without corrosion.