Experimental behavior of eccentrically loaded RC slender columns strengthened using GFRP wrapping

This paper aims to examine the behavior of slender reinforced concrete columns confined with external glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) sheets under eccentric loads. The experimental work conducted in this paper is an extension to previous work by the author concerning the behavior of eccentrically loaded short columns strengthened with GFRP wrapping. In this study, nine reinforced concrete columns divided into three groups were casted and tested. Three eccentricity ratios corresponding to e/t = 0, 0.10, and 0.50 in one direction of the column were tested in each group. The first group was the control one without confinement with slenderness ratio equal 20. The second group was the same as the first group but fully wrapped with one layer of GFRP laminates. The third group was also fully wrapped with one layer of GFRP laminates but having slenderness ratio equal 15. The experimental results of another two groups from the previous work were used in this study to investigate the difference between short and slender columns. The first was control one with slenderness ratio equal 10 and the second was fully wrapped and having the same slenderness ratio. All specimens were loaded until failure. The ultimate load, axial deformation, strain in steel bars, and failure mechanisms of each specimen were generated and analyzed. The results show that GFRP laminates confining system is less effective with slender columns compared with short one, but this solution is still applied and it can be efficiently utilized especially for slender columns with low eccentric ratio.