Seismic Performance of Square High-Strength Concrete Columns in FRP Stay-in-Place Formwork

Abstract

The use of high-strength concrete (HSC) in seismically active regions poses a major concern because of the brittle nature of the material. The confinement requirements for HSC columns may be prohibitively stringent since they require proportionately greater confinement than columns of normal-strength concrete. An alternative to conventional confinement reinforcement is the use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) casings, in the form of a stay-in-place formwork. This paper investigates the use of stay-in-place FRP formwork as concrete confinement reinforcement for HSC columns with square cross sections. Large scale HSC building columns, encased in FRP casings, were tested under simulated seismic loading. The columns had