Behavior of Self Compacted Concrete Columns Filled GFRP Tubes Under Eccentric Loading

Abstract

This research presents an experimental and numerical investigation to study the behavior of glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) tubes totally filled with self-compacted concrete (SCC) under the effect of axial and eccentric compression loading, in addition to flexure loading. The experimental program consists of testing a total of twelve SCC columns and five SCC beams were casted using four different compressive strengths 20, 37, 42 and 67 MPa, and tested up to failure. SCC columns were tested with different eccentricities e/D = 0.0, 0.25, 0.5. All test specimens had 250 mm circular cross section diameter with over length of 1500 mm and casted in GFRP tubes with 6.5 mm thickness. The tested beam specimens were supported on a rigid floor by two circular steel supports with the same outer diameter of the tubes. As for the numerical investigation in this study, an analytical model using the FE method was developed for the tested specimens using the nonlinear package ―ANSYS 14.5‖. The model was also validated through comparisons with experimental results and a good agreement was obtained. Key words: self-compacted concrete, fiber reinforced polymers, confinement, columns, eccentric loading, modelling, comparison. IV