• Computers and Concrete
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.597-616
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• 2011

With respect to rehabilitation, strengthening and retrofitting of existing and deteriorated columns in buildings and bridges, CFRP sheets have been found effective in enhancing the performance of existing RC columns by wrapping and bonding CFRP sheets externally around the concrete. Concrete columns and piers that are confined by both lateral steel reinforcement and CFRP are sometimes referred to as "hybrid" concrete columns. With the availability of experimental data on concrete columns confined by steel reinforcement and/or CFRP, the study presents modeling using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict the compressive strength of hybrid circular RC columns. The prediction of the ultimate confined compressive strength of RC columns is very important especially when this value is used in estimating the capacity of structures. The present ANN model used as parameters for the confining materials the lateral steel ratio (${\rho}_s$) and the FRP volumetric ratio (${\rho}_{FRP}$). The model gave good predictions for three types of confined columns: (a) columns confined with steel reinforcement only, (b) CFRP confined columns, and (c) hybrid columns confined by both steel and CFRP. The model may be used for predicting the compressive strength of existing circular RC columns confined with steel only that will be strengthened or retrofitted using CFRP.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.499-518
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• 2013

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) jackets have been widely used as an effective tool for the strengthening and rehabilitation of concrete structures, especially damaged concrete columns. Therefore, a clear understanding of the compressive behavior of FRP-confined concrete is essential. The objective of this paper is to develop a simple efficient method for predicting the compressive strength, the axial strain at the peak stress, and the stress-strain relationship of FRP-confined concrete. In this method, a compressive strength model is established based on Jefferson's failure surface. With the proposed strength model, the strength of FRP-confined concrete can be estimated more precisely. The axial strain at the peak stress is then evaluated using a damage-based formula. Finally, a modified stress-strain relationship is derived based on Lam and Teng's model. The validity of the proposed compressive strength and strain models and the modified stress-strain relationship is verified with a wide range of experimental results collected from the research literature and obtained from the self-conducted test. It can be concluded that, as a competitive alternative, the proposed method can be used to predict the compressive behavior of FRP-confined concrete with reasonable accuracy.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.167-194
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• 2004

In this paper axial loading tests on low strength concrete members, which were confined with various thickness of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite sheets are described. Totally 46 specimens with circular, square and rectangular cross-sections with unconfined concrete compressive strengths between 6 and 10 MPa were included in the test program. During the tests, a photogrammetrical deformation measurement technique was also used, as well as conventional measurement techniques. The contribution of external confinement with CFRP composite sheets to the compressive behavior of the specimens with low strength concrete is evaluated quantitatively, in terms of strength, longitudinal and lateral deformability and energy dissipation. The effects of width/depth ratios and the corner radius of the specimens with rectangular cross-section on the axial behavior were also examined. It was seen that the effectiveness of the external confinement with CFRP composite sheets is much more pronounced, when the unconfined concrete compressive strength is relatively lower. It was also found that the available analytical expressions proposed for normal or high strength concrete confined by CFRP sheets could not predict the strength and deformability of CFRP confined low strength concrete accurately. New expressions are proposed for the compressive strength and the ultimate axial strain of CFRP confined low strength concrete.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.603-620
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• 2013

This paper improves genetic programming (GP) and weight genetic programming (WGP) and proposes soft-computing polynomials (SCP) for accurate prediction and visible polynomials. The proposed genetic programming system (GPS) comprises GP, WGP and SCP. To represent confined compressive strength and strain of circular concrete columns in meaningful representations, this paper conducts sensitivity analysis and applies pruning techniques. Analytical results demonstrate that all proposed models perform well in achieving good accuracy and visible formulas; notably, SCP can model problems in polynomial forms. Finally, concrete compressive strength and lateral steel ratio are identified as important to both confined compressive strength and strain of circular concrete columns. By using the suggested formulas, calculations are more accurate than those of analytical models. Moreover, a formula is applied for confined compressive strength based on current data and achieves accuracy comparable to that of neural networks.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.377-391
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• 2022

The use of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) has widely increased due to its enhancement in the ultimate strength and ductility of the reinforced concrete (RC) structures. This study presents a prediction model for the axial compressive strength and strain of normal-strength concrete cylinders confined with CFRP. Besides, soft computing approaches have been extensively used to model in many areas of civil engineering applications. Therefore, the genetic expression programming (GEP) models to predict axial compressive strength and strain of CFRP-confined concrete specimens were used in this study. For this purpose, the parameters of 283 CFRP-confined concrete specimens collected from 38 experimental studies in the literature were taken into account as input variables to predict GEP based models. Then, the results of GEP models were statistically compared with those of models proposed by various researchers. The values of R² for strength and strain of CFRP-confined concrete were obtained as 0.897 and 0.713, respectively. The results of the comparison reveal that the proposed GEP-based models for CFRP-confined concrete have the best efficiency among the existing models and provide the best performance.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2011

The main objective of this investigation is to study size effect on compressive strength of CFRP confined concrete cylinders subjected to axial compressive loading. In total 24 concrete cylinders with different sizes were tested, small specimens with a diameter of 100 mm and a height of 200 mm, medium specimens with a diameter of 200 mm and a height of 400 mm, and big specimens with a diameter of 300 mm and a height of 600 mm. The lateral confining pressure of each specimen is the same and from that hypothesis the small specimens were confined with one layer of CFRP, medium and big specimens were performed by two and three layers of CFRP respectively. Test results indicate a significant enhancement in compressive strength for all confined specimens, and moreover, the compressive strengths of small and medium specimens are almost the same while a bit lower for big specimens. These results permit to conclude that there is no size effect on compressive strength of confined specimens regardless of cylinder dimension.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.215-225
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• 2013

The results of experimental testing of the effect of confined concrete on compressive strength and ductility of concrete beam subjected to pure bending are presented. The effect of different stirrups forms and spacing, as well as different concrete strengths, on beam carrying capacity and ductility were analyzed. Ultimate strength capacity and deflection of concrete beam increase with the decrease in stirrups spacing. Stirrup form has a great effect on the ultimate carrying capacity and ductility of concrete beam. Stirrups which confined the region of concrete in the compression more contribute to greater compression strength of concrete than common stirrups at the perimeter of the entire cross-section of the beam.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.239-251
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• 2022

The use of lateral reinforcement in confined concrete columns can improve bearing capacity and deformability. The lateral responses of lateral reinforcement significantly influence the effective confining pressure on core concrete. However, lateral strain-axial strain model of concrete columns confined by lateral reinforcement has not received enough attention. In this paper, based on experimental results of 85 concrete columns confined by lateral reinforcement under axial compression, the effect of unconfined concrete compressive strength, volumetric ratio, lateral reinforcement yield strength, and confinement type on lateral strain-axial strain curves was investigated. Through parameter analysis, it indicated that with the same level of axial strain, the lateral strain slightly increased with the increase in the unconfined concrete compressive strength, but decreased with the increase in volumetric ratio significantly. The lateral reinforcement yield strength had slight influence on lateral strain-axial strain curves. At the same level of lateral strain, the axial strain of specimen with spiral was larger than that of specimen with stirrup. Furthermore, a lateral strain-axial strain model for concrete columns confined by lateral reinforcement under axial compression was proposed by introducing the effects of unconfined concrete compressive strength, volumetric ratio, confinement type and effective confining pressure, which showed good agreement with the experimental results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.477-488
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• 2017

In this paper, an innovative technique for finite element (FE) modeling of steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) columns with active confinement under axial compressive loading is presented. In this method, a new constitutive model for the stress-strain relationship of actively-confined concrete is proposed. In total, 14 series of experimental STCC stub columns having active confinement were modeled using the ABAQUS software. The results obtained from the 3D model including the compressive strength at the initial peak point and failure point, as well as the axial and lateral stress-strain curves were compared with the experimental results to verify the accuracy of the 3D model. It was found that there existed a good agreement between them. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of the concrete compressive strength, steel tube wall thickness, and pre-stressing level on the behavior of STCC columns with active confinement. The results indicated that increasing the concrete core's compressive strength leads to an increase in the compressive strength of the active composite column as well as its earlier failure. Furthermore, a reduction in the tube external diameter-to-wall thickness ratio affects the axial stress-strain curve and the confining pressure, while increasing the pre-stressing level has a negligible effect on the two.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1994.10a
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• pp.301-305
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• 1994

Experimental research was carried out to investigate the confinement effect of concrete specimens confined by single spirals subjected to the concentric axial compressive load. Main variables are the compressive strength of concrete, the spacing of the spiral reinforcement and the yield strength of the spiral reinforcement. Axial stress-strain curves are reported.