Behaviour of reinforced columns with E_Glass fiber and carbon fiber

Externally bonded reinforcement using Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) is a good response to the concern represented by the need for rehabilitation of concrete structures. These techniques are more and more attractive because of their fast and low labour costs, very good strength to weight ratio, good fatigue properties, and non-corrosive characteristics of FRP. The present work is an experimental study investigating the mechanical behaviour under a uni-axial loading of short concrete columns reinforced by composite materials. These are constituted of glass fibers GFRP (bidirectional fabric of two surface densities 500 and 300 g/m²), carbon CFRP (unidirectional sheet of density per unit area of 230 g/m²) and polyester and epoxy resin respectively. The investigation aims at demonstrating the effectiveness of FRP reinforcement through highlighting the effect of thickness (FRP number of folds), the nature of the reinforcement (glass, carbon or Hybrid), and the orientation of the fibers. The axial lengths shortening along with the radial expansion are measured using the strain gauges glued to the outer surfaces of the composite jacket via a Wheatstone bridge. These measurements are saved to a PC through an acquisition card. The results obtained clearly show that the columns reinforced with CFRP folds allow an important increase in the compressive rupture stress in comparison with those reinforced with GFRP folds. The gains in compressive strength, in axial and in radial strains of the confined concrete with the different FRPs used are identified and quantified. It has further been demonstrated that the tested columns mechanisms depend strongly on the type of fiber reinforcements.