SEISMIC RESILIENCE OF CFRP CONFINED RC COLUMNS: EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

Resilience and sustainability are the key goals of any building and infrastructure, especially in countries with moderate to high seismicity. However, in countries with low seismicity like Malaysia most existing buildings are designed to carry only the gravity load, which is vulnerable when subjected to additional loads such as earthquakes. Lateral ground motion can severely damage vital components like columns in the form of concrete crushing associated with the buckling of longitudinal reinforcement. This paper presented the application of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) as reinforcement in RC columns based on experiments for resilience and sustainability of RC structure. The application of FRP for retrofitting and strengthening structural elements not only increased the axial, shear and bending capacity, but also high durability towards harsh environment. CFRP in sheets/strips were flexible as compared to FRP bars; therefore, they can easily be shaped into spirals to confine the core concrete of column. This study showed that by using FRP sheets as internal confinement improved the seismic response of RC columns better than the conventional carbon steel material. A discussion on the performance of FRP sheets as internal confinement and their potential in improving the resilience and robustness of RC structures was presented for future directions.