Evaluation of Mechanical Characteristics of High-Strength Reinforced Concrete Columns with Hexagonal Chicken Wire Mesh Under Cyclic Loading

Recently, new materials and methods have been implemented to improve the performance of reinforced concrete columns. This paper studies experimentally the behavior of reinforced high-strength columns, with additional internal confinement using hexagonal chicken wire mesh (HCWM) to enhance ductility, energy absorption, and ultimate strength and reduce the brittleness of traditional columns. Eight double-ended one-third-scale columns with different volumetric ratios of transverse rebar have been constructed and loaded under the uniform axial compression and lateral cyclic loads. Different volumetric ratios of transverse rebar were provided based on special, intermediate, and ordinary moment frames specifications of ACI 318–14 (named SD, ID, and OD, respectively). The specimens were confined by transverse rebars and HCWM and the results were compared with reference specimens with traditional transverse ties. Experimental findings demonstrated that HCWM specimens exhibited better performance compared to their control specimens concerning crack control efficiency, load capacity, ductility, energy dissipation, and failure modes. Implementation of HCWM increased the ultimate deformation, ductility, and energy absorption of OD specimens up to 21%, 50%, and 175%, respectively, compared to their control specimen. Confinement of the concrete columns by HCWM increased the ultimate strength of OD and ID specimens up to 15% and 22% under the cyclic load, but has a negligible effect on SD columns due to enough ratio of transverse and longitudinal rebars in SD specimens. As a result, confinement of specimens by HCWM could be regarded as a simple and effective method to improve the seismic characteristics of RC columns, particularly those members constructed with a minimal number of transverse rebars.