Design strength of axially loaded RC columns strengthened by steel caging

There are three principal techniques available for strengthening RC columns: concrete jacketing, steel jacketing and composite jacketing (FRP). Steel caging is a variation of the steel jacketing technique and is recognised as being easy to apply and relatively inexpensive. This paper presents a new design proposal that provides a means of calculating the ultimate load of an axially loaded RC column strengthened by steel caging. The formulation of the new proposal is based on the analysis of the failure mechanisms derived from experimental and numerical studies performed on full-scale specimens. The results provided by the application of the new design proposal are compared with those from laboratory tests on full-scale strengthened columns and FE models and are seen to be much more effective than results obtained from other proposals. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.