Experimental Study On The Seismic Performance of Columns Reinforced by The CFRP Bar and Sheet
Experimental Study On The Seismic Performance of Columns Reinforced by The CFRP Bar and Sheet
Experimental Study On The Seismic Performance of Columns Reinforced by The CFRP Bar and Sheet
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-021-09914-x
Jun Zhao1 · Wenbo Ren1 · Xiaohui Ruan2 · Xinglong Gong3 · Chenzhe Si2
Abstract
To analyze the influence of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) reinforcement ratio
and CFRP sheet on the self-centering performances of concrete circular columns, five con-
crete circular columns were tested under the low-cyclic reversed load in this work. The five
concrete circular columns included 1 RC (Reinforced Concrete) column, 2 CFRP bars rein-
forced concrete circular columns and 2 CFRP bars reinforced concrete circular columns
with CFRP sheet strengthening partially. The hysteretic curves, skeleton curves, stiffness
degradation, strength degradation, residual deformations, energy dissipation and ductility
of the five circular columns were obtained and analyzed to verify the improvement of the
seismic performances of the specimens reinforced with CFRP bars and CFRP sheets. At
the same time, the reference opinions for practical applications of CFRP bars and CFRP
sheets in structures can be provided. The test results showed that the bearing capacity
and deformation capacities of the concrete circular columns reinforced with CFRP bars
were 25.5% and 25% higher than that of the RC column, respectively. The deformation
capacities, energy consumption capacities and deformation recovery capacities of CFRP
bars reinforced concrete circular columns with CFRP sheet strengthening partially were
21.5%, 40% and 78.5% higher than that of the RC column, respectively.
1 Introduction
* Xiaohui Ruan
rxiaohui@zzu.edu.cn
1
School of Civil Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, Henan, P.R. China
2
School of Mechanics and Safety Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, Henan,
P.R. China
3
CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern
Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, Anhui, P.R. China
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earthquake was increasingly concerned [1]. In 2009, American and Japanese research-
ers collectively determined that future anti-seismic researches were focused on the
repairability of the building structures [2]. Studies showed that the maintenance cost
of the building would be much greater than the reconstruction cost of the building
when the residual interstory drift was over 0.5% [3]. So, it was necessary to carry out
the researches on how to reduce the residual interstory drift of the buildings after the
earthquake.
Deformation would occur in the structures under earthquake and could be eliminated by
reinforcement with prestressing or special tendon. This kind of structure was called the self-
centering structure. Currently, self-centering structural systems had been applied in practical
engineering projects [4–6]. Priestley and MacRae [7] carried out the test about the seis-
mic performance of the post-tensioned prestressed rocking beam-column joint and the test
results showed that the seismic performances of the well-designed beam-column joint speci-
mens were better. Ricles et al. [8] conducted research on self-resetting steel frame struc-
tures and the post-tensioned prestressed tendons had been used to provide restoring forces
for the specimens. The results indicated that the self-resetting structures could effectively
reduce the residual deformation of specimens. Researches about the seismic performance of
unbonded prestressed concrete self-centering shear walls had been carried out by Kurama
et al. [9, 10]. The results showed that the shear walls had a good self-centering capacity and
almost had no damage even when the lateral deformation of the shear wall was large. Sun
and Funato [11] tested 6 ultra-high-strength steel bars reinforced concrete columns under
high axial load and low-cyclic reversed load. The results showed that the residual defor-
mations of the specimens were inconspicuous. Gu et al. [12] assembled various types of
energy dissipation dampers into self-centering reinforced concrete shear walls to remedy
the shortcomings of low energy dissipation in self-centering structural systems [13, 14]. The
test results indicated that the deformation and self-centering capacities of the new type of
self-centering hybrid shear walls were better. Lee and Billington [15] evaluated the seismic
performance of the self-centering concrete bridge system and found out that the residual
deformation of the self-centering concrete bridge system was small and the mechanical
behavior of the self-centering concrete bridge system was well after the earthquake.
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer was frequently applied in concrete structures by pro-
cessing into bars and sheets because of its high tensile strength and good corrosion resist-
ance [16–19]. CFRP bars were made of heating multiple strand carbon fiber bundles which
were saturated and covered high-performance resin-based materials. CFRP bars had high
tensile strength and good corrosion resistance and could be used as reinforcing steel bars
to improve the mechanical behavior of the reinforced concrete structures [20–22]. Zhang
et al. [23] performed low-cyclic reversed load tests on three CFRP and steel bars hybrid
reinforced concrete beams. The test results showed that the ductility performances of the
hybrid reinforced beams were better. Sharbatdar [24] carried out the tests of 10 CFRP rein-
forced concrete columns under low-cyclic reversed load. The test results indicated that the
carrying and deformation capacity of the CFRP reinforced concrete columns were good.
Zhong et al. [25] performed an experimental study on the seismic performance of six
CFRP reinforced concrete columns. The research results showed that the recovery capabili-
ties of the column specimens were better than that of the conventional reinforced concrete
columns and the residual deformations of column specimens reduced significantly. Zhao
et al. [26] directed the experimental study on the seismic performance of CFRP reinforced
concrete shear walls. The test results showed that CFRP bars could effectively improve the
lateral carrying capacity of the concrete shear wall and the residual deformations of the
specimens reduced simultaneously.
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The CFRP sheets were usually used to improve the carrying and deformation capacity
of the reinforced concrete structures because of the high strength and elasticity modulus
[27–29]. In the 1990s, CFRP sheets were widely used for experimental study on the seis-
mic strengthening of structures in the United States. The seismic performances of CFRP
reinforced concrete bridge columns were researched by Hamid [30]. The results indicated
that the carrying capacity of bridge columns had been greatly improved by reinforced with
CFRP bars; the lateral carrying and deformation capacity of bridge columns were effec-
tively enhanced by CFRP bars. The research results of Zhong et al. [25] and Saqan et al.
[31] showed that externally wrapped CFRP sheets could not only effectively reduce the
residual deformations of the specimens but also effectively increase the energy dissipa-
tion. Wang et al. [32, 33] completed low-cyclic reversed load and simulated seismic load
tests on concrete column specimens wrapped with CFRP sheets to confirm the effect of
CFRP sheets on seismic behavior. The column specimens revealed satisfactory ductility
and load capacity. Wang et al. [34] carried out the study of 11 concrete columns reinforced
with CFRP sheets and found that the number of layers of externally wrapped CFRP sheets
had little effect on the stiffness of the concrete columns. Ye et al. [35] summarized the
results of 8 CFRP sheets reinforced concrete columns under low-cyclic reversed load. The
strong constraint effect of CFRP sheets had been confirmed. It was worth mentioning that
CFRP sheets also had the restorative function on the damaged reinforced concrete struc-
ture. Saljoughian and Mostofinejad [36] jointly studied the grooving method of CFRP rein-
forcement to prevent CFRP strips prematurely off the concrete substrate and the groov-
ing method considerably enhanced the carrying capacities of specimens compared with
the conventional externally bonded reinforcement technique. Afterward, Saljoughian and
Mostofinejad [37] have finished the research of seismic strengthening of square reinforced
concrete columns; the results show that specimens with the grooving method of CFRP
reinforcement have greater carrying capacity ductility and energy dissipation capacity. The
destructive columns reinforced with CFRP sheets still had good energy dissipation capac-
ity in Zhang’s tests [38].
In this paper, five concrete circular columns reinforced with CFRP bars and CFRP sheets
were tested under the low-cyclic reversed load to research the improvement of CFRP bars and
CFRP sheets on the self-centering of specimens. The phenomena and crack development of
the columns were recorded and researched to verify the inhibition of CFRP bars and CFRP
sheets on the crack development of specimens. The hysteresis curves, skeleton curves, stiff-
ness degradation, strength degradation, residual deformation, and energy consumption capa-
bilities of the specimens were systematically analyzed to research the seismic performance of
the concrete circular columns reinforced with CFRP bars and CFRP sheets.
2 Experimental Program
2.1 Specimens Design
The material properties of the steel bars, concrete, CFRP bars, and CFRP sheets that were
used in the tests were shown in Tables 1, 2 and 3. The comparison of CFRP bars and sheets
was shown in Fig. 1 and the stress-strain curves of the HRB400 steel bars and CFRP were
shown in Fig. 2.
The concrete compressive strength in 28th day as shown in Table 1 was determined by
the actual measured value: the test includes 12 concrete cubes with a side length of 150
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mm and the reference standard was the Chinese Standard "Standard for evaluation of con-
crete compressive strength GB50107-2010" [39]. The standard deviation of the concrete
compressive strength was 2.094 which was calculated according to the Chinese Standard.
Part of the mechanical properties of CFRP bars and CFRP sheets were provided by the
manufacturer and the actual tensile strength was measured due to the importance of design
parameters as shown in Table 2. 6 samples for each different kind of reinforcement as
shown in Table 3 and the results were meet the specification [40].
The tests were divided into two groups to research the effect of different CFRP bars sub-
stitution rates and wrapped CFRP sheets on the seismic performance of specimens. Totally,
five columns with the same geometric dimensions were prepared. The concrete column
was constituted by the bottom beam (1250 mm × 450 mm × 500 mm), the circular column
(Ф350 mm × 1120 mm) and the head beam (500 mm × 450 mm × 400 mm). The specific
dimensions of specimens were shown in Fig. 3 [40].
HRB400 steel bars (12 mm-diameter) and CFRP bars were used as the longitudinal bars
and uniformly distributed at the circular section. Longitudinal bars of the bottom beam and
the head beam were 16 mm-diameter HRB400 steel bars. The stirrups were 12 mm-diameter
HRB400 steel bars. The stirrup spacings of the foundation beam and the head beam were 120
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Fig. 3 The size and reinforcement layout of the specimen (unit: mm)
mm and 110 mm, respectively. The height of the circular column was 1120 mm and the diam-
eter was 350 mm. The type of stirrup of the column was spiral stirrup which was made of 8
mm-diameter HRB400 steel bars with a stirrup spacing of 60 mm. The thickness of the con-
crete cover was 25 mm. The parameters of the specimens were shown in Fig. 3 and Table 4.
The specimen named RCC meant conventional reinforced concrete column, CFRP50
meant CFRP bars substitution rate was 50%, CFRP100 meant CFRP bars substitution
rate was 100%, CFRP50W meant CFRP bars substitution rate was 50% and wrapped with
CFRP sheets, CFRP100W meant CFRP bars substitution rate was 100% and wrapped with
CFRP sheets.
2.2 Specimens Preparation
The production process of the specimen was mainly divided into the following steps: cut-
ting CFRP bars and steel bars according to the reinforcement design, anchoring CFRP
bars, finishing reinforcement cages, pasting strain gauges of reinforcing bars, pouring and
curing concrete.
CFRP bars were high-strength reinforced bars, so the anchors were very important in
order to give full play to its high tensile capacity in the specimens. Bond-type anchors were
adopted in this paper and the main components of the anchors were steel sleeve pipes,
high-strength adhesion agents and steel plates. High-strength Q345 steel was used for man-
ufacturing materials of steel sleeve pipes and steel plates, the inner diameter of the pipe
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was 28 mm and the pipe wall thickness was 3 mm. High-strength grouting concrete with
a great performance of rapid moisture-releasility and self-compactness was used as high-
strength adhesion agents. The specific anchoring method was shown in Fig. 4.
The anchorage length of CFRP bar was 330 mm and the ultimate tensile strength of
CFRP bar was about 2300 MPa. The anchoring method can effectively prevent CFRP bars
withdraw from the anchor: the failure mode of all testing CFRP bar samples was CFRP
fracture instead of anchors failure. The details were shown in Fig. 5.
CFRP50W and CFRP100W specimens were wrapped with CFRP sheets and the rein-
forcement height was 350 mm. The total length of CFRP sheet was 1300 mm including the
perimeter of the circular column was 1100 mm and the splicing length of CFRP sheets was
200 mm [41]. The reinforcement method of the specimen was single-layer CFRP sheets.
Specimen surface was polished and kept dry and flat to ensure the reinforcement direction
was the same as the stickup direction. Epoxy resin flooring primer was applied to the sur-
face of specimens and assembly glue painted on the reinforcement area.
The testing apparatuses were constituted by a horizontal loading actuator, a vertical load-
ing hoisting jack, a reaction frame, two jacks, four ground anchors and two steel beams. To
ensure the vertical loading hoisting jack gliding smoothly during the test, the connection
system which made up of the slideways and the sliding blocks was used between the verti-
cal loading hoisting jack and the reaction frame. A special custom-made connection device
was used as the connection between the specimens and the horizontal loading actuator. The
connection device could meet the requirement of connection strength and guarantee the
ball joint twisting freely. The jacks could limit the horizontal swipe of specimens and the
ground anchors-steel beams system could limit the vertical swipe of specimens. The testing
apparatuses were shown in Fig. 6.
After specimens were installed, the location of the vertical loading hoisting jack was
adjusted to ensure the vertical axial force which was 382.8 kN could be steadily imposed
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on specimens until the end of the experiment. The vertical axial force was calculated from
the 0.15 axial compression ratio and the calculation formula (1) as followed:
N = 0.76 × 𝜇 × a × fc (1)
Where 0.76 was the conversion factor of cubic compressive strength and prism com-
pressive strength; 𝜇 was the axial compression ratio; a was the cross-sectional area of the
column; fc was the compressive strength of concrete [40].
Low-cyclic lateral loading was applied on the specimens through the horizontal loading
actuator based on the designed experimental loading process. The interstory drift 0.25%
corresponds to 3.3 mm, 0.5% corresponds to 6.6 mm, and so on. The loading process was
shown in Fig. 7.
During the tests, two cycles were applied at each drift level with increments of 0.25%
up to 2.5%. In subsequent loading, one cycle was applied at the drift levels of 3.0% to
7.0%, respectively. The loading rate was 0.33 mm/s and the loading rate of loading and
unloading were equal [42]. Until the lateral carrying capacity of the test specimen dropped
to 85% of the maximum carrying capacity or the specimen was destroyed, the tests were
completed. The load and displacement of horizontally loading actuators were collected by
a static acquisition instrument, the horizontal and vertical displacements corresponding to
different heights of concrete columns were collected by a YHD-type displacement meter,
the strain of longitudinal bars and stirrups were collected by strain gauges, the concrete
strain and the crack width were also recorded. The arrangement of displacement measuring
points was shown in Fig. 8.
The uppermost displacement meter was located at the middle of the head beam used to
measure the horizontal displacement of the loading actuator. The displacement meters of
columns were divided into eight groups and each group contained a vertical displacement
meter and a horizontal displacement meter. The displacement meters respectively were
located at 50 mm, 350 mm, 650 mm and 950 mm from the bottom of the column, as shown
in Fig. 8.
The seismic performances of CFRP bars reinforced concrete circular columns with CFRP
strengthening partially were systematically studied by analyzing the failure mode, hyster-
esis curves, skeleton curves, stiffness degradation, strength degradation, residual deforma-
tion, and energy dissipation capacity of the columns.
3.1 Failure Mode
The development of cracks and the failure form was carefully recorded during the tests.
The overall test process was roughly summarized into three stages. Firstly, the horizon-
tal cracks appeared and developed with the increase of interstory drift. Secondly, vertical
cracks appeared and residual deformation increased. Finally, the lateral carrying capacities
of the specimens were reduced and the concrete at the root of the column was spalled. In
order to compare the effect of different CFRP bars substitution rate and CFRP sheets on the
seismic performance of concrete circular columns clearly, test results were divided into two
parts: the columns with different CFRP bars substitution rate and the columns reinforced
with and without CFRP sheets. The failure modes of 5 specimens were shown in Fig. 9.
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From the test results, it could be seen that the development of the cracks for RCC,
CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens were similar. The failure types of the three specimens
were bending failures under the horizontal loads and vertical loads. The failure inter-
story drifts for the three specimens were 4%, 5%, and 5%, respectively. The test results
indicated that the failure interstory drifts for the three specimens were greater than the
elastic-plastic interstory drift angle limitation of frame construction (2%) which was
stipulated in the “Technical Specification for Concrete Structure of Tall Building” (JGJ3-
2010, Chinese Standard) [43]. For the three different specimens, the first horizontal crack
with a width of 0.02 mm appeared when the interstory drifts were 0.25% and located at
160 mm, 272 mm, and 256 mm from the bottom of the columns, respectively. The cracks
were closed during the unloading phase of the tests because the columns were in the
elastic stage at this time.
The horizontal cracks gradually developed with the increase of interstory drift. The
crack distribution area of RCC specimen was 750 mm and that of CFRP100 specimen was
885 mm from the column bottom. The first residual cracks of RCC specimen, CFRP50
specimen and CFRP100 specimen appeared when the interstory drifts were 0.5%, 0.75%
and 1%, respectively. The first vertical crack of RCC specimen appeared when the inter-
story drift was 2.0% and the first vertical cracks of CFRP50 specimen and CFRP100
specimen appeared when the interstory drift was 2.5%. It indicated that the recovery capa-
bilities of the specimen increased when it was reinforced by CFRP bars. So, CFRP bars
could effectively prevent premature cracking damage of concrete. The peak load of the
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RCC specimen was 87.2 kN at the interstory drift of 2%. The peak loads of CFRP50 and
CFRP100 specimens appeared when the interstory drifts were 4%, and the peak loads were
95.7 kN and 109.4 kN, respectively.
Vertical cracks continued developing in the late test and concrete in the lower part
began to damage at the same time. The bottom concrete of RCC specimen was extensive
damage when the interstory drift was 3.0% and those of the CFRP50 and CFRP100 speci-
mens were 4.0%. The test was considered to be stopped when the horizontal load declined
to 85% of the peak load. The failure loads of the three specimens were 71.8 kN, 59.7 kN
and 87.5 kN, respectively. At this time, the maximum crack width of the RCC specimen
was 2.52 mm and the residual crack width was 1.41 mm, the maximum crack width of the
CFRP50 specimen was 2.57 mm and the residual crack width was 0.96 mm, the maximum
crack width of the CFRP100 specimen was 2.31 mm and the residual crack width was 0.72
mm. At failure, RCC specimen had relatively obvious residual cracks and residual defor-
mations compared with CFRP50 specimen and CFRP100 specimen. Compared with RCC,
the residual deformation of CFRP100 specimen was decreased by 48.9%. The height of the
concrete crushing zone of the RCC specimen was 190 mm which was obviously smaller
than 250 mm of CFRP50 specimen and 260 mm of CFRP100 specimen.
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the interstory drifts were 0.5% for both CFRP50W and CFRP100W. The height of the
crack was 400 mm and the width was 0.02 mm.
The horizontal cracks developed rapidly in the middle of the test and the distribution
area of horizontal cracks of CFRP sheets reinforced specimen was 900 mm. The first resid-
ual cracks of CFRP50W specimen and CFRP100W specimen were observed at the inter-
story drift of 1%. The sound of CFRP sheets tearing can be heard and inconspicuous dam-
age can be observed in the late test stage. Horizontal cracks continue to develop. However,
there was no obvious spalling of concrete because the reinforced with CFRP sheets. The
peak load of CFRP50W specimen was 106.1 kN at the interstory drift of 6%, and the peak
load of CFRP100W specimen was 132.9 kN at the interstory drift of 7%.
The failure loads for CFRP50W and CFRP100W specimens were 90.8 kN and 90.2
kN, respectively. The maximum crack width of CFRP50W specimen was 2.41 mm and
the residual crack width was 0.68 mm. The maximum crack width of CFRP100W speci-
men was 2.42 mm and the residual crack width was 0.65 mm. At the end of the test, CFRP
sheets were cracked and the residual deformations of both specimens were small. It could
be proved that the CFRP sheets had strong constraints on the plastic hinge. CFRP sheets
reinforcement could effectively improve the recovery capabilities of the specimens and sig-
nificantly increase the carrying capacity of the specimens. Compared with CFRP50 and
CFRP100 specimens, CFRP50W and CFRP100W specimens had significantly improved
deformation capacities of the columns. Details of cracks development of each specimen
were described in Table 5.
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Interstory drift of the first crack (mm) 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.5
Interstory drift of the first vertical crack (mm) 0.5 0.75 1 \ \
Ultimate interstory drift (%) 4 5 5 7 7
Maximum crack width (mm) 2.52 2.57 2.31 2.41 2.42
Residual crack width (mm) 1.41 0.96 0.72 0.68 0.65
Carrying capacity (kN) 87.2 95.7 109.4 106.1 132.9
3.2 Hysteresis Curves
The hysteresis curves of five specimens were shown in Fig. 10. The hysteretic curve of
the RCC specimen was plumper which meant that more seismic energy could be dissi-
pated during the earthquake. The hysteresis curve of CFRP50 specimen was a little pinch-
ing and that for CFRP100W was more obvious compared with RCC specimen. The linear
elasticity of CFRP bars resulted in that the curve decreased rapidly during the unloading
stage. So, the residual deformations of CFRP bars reinforced concrete columns under the
same loading were smaller. The peak loads of CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens appeared
comparatively late than RCC specimen. When the interlayer drift angle was 2% (Δ=26.4
mm), the load of RCC specimen increased to the peak load, then it decreased slowly. The
CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens reached peak loads when the interstory drifts were
4% (Δ=52.8 mm). The peak loads of CFRP50 and CFRP100 were 95.7 kN and 109.4 kN
which were 9.7% and 25.5% larger than that of the RCC specimen, respectively. However,
both CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens showed a rapidly declining tendency of loads.
CFRP50W and CFRP100W specimens showed excellent lateral carrying capacity due
to the external partially wrapped CFRP sheets reinforcement. The hysteresis curves for
CFRP50W and CFRP100W specimens were plumper and the pinching phenomenon of the
hysteresis curves was more mitigatory than CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens.
In addition, the hysteresis curves of the specimens reinforced with CFRP bars did not
show the ductility characteristic before failure which appeared in the hysteresis curve of
the RCC specimen. This indicated that the carrying capacities of CFRP bars reinforced
concrete specimens without CFRP sheets would promptly decrease after concrete spalling.
The hysteresis curves of specimens were pinched under low cycle repeated load, the
pinching width ratios [47] were calculated based on experimental data. For RCC speci-
men, the pinching width ratio was calculated to be 0.48 when the interstory drift was 2.5%.
The pinching width ratios of CFRP50, CFRP100, CFRP50W and CFRP100W respectively
were 0.45, 0.5, 0.4 and 0.36. At interstory drift of 3.0%, the pinching width ratios of 5
specimens were 0.55, 0.52, 0.49, 0.42 and 0.39. The results showed that the pinching width
ratios of the specimens with CFRP bars have relatively lower pinching width ratios and a
more obvious pinching effect.
3.3 Skeleton Curves
The skeleton curves of the five specimens were shown in Fig. 11 which were obtained by
connecting the peak points of each cycle of the hysteresis curves.
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At the beginning of the test, the initial slope of all skeleton curves was large. With
the increase of the load, the skeleton curve of RCC specimen showed a significant yield-
ing state which indicated that the ductility performance of the RCC specimen was good
compared with CFRP specimens. The ultimate carrying capacity and the ultimate inter-
story drift angle of the RCC specimen were relatively small. However, the skeleton curves
of CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens showed an escalating trend. Especially, the slope of
the skeleton curve of CFRP100 specimen was large. The ultimate carrying loadings of
CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens were 95.7 kN and 109.4 kN which were 9.7% and 25.5%
higher than that of the RCC specimen, respectively. After the failure of the specimens,
the descending slopes of the skeleton curves of the CFRP specimens were larger than that
of the RCC specimen and showed no real sign of warning before the rupture which was
caused by the linear elastic property and relatively low elastic modulus of CFRP bars.
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The overall trends of the skeleton curves of CFRP50W and CFRP100W specimens were
similar to those of CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens. The skeleton curves of CFRP50W
and CFRP100W specimens had a more obvious rising trend curve before failure when
compared with the CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens. The ultimate carrying loads of
CFRP50W and CFRP100W specimens were 106.1 kN and 132.9 kN which were 10.9%
and 21.5% higher than CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimen, respectively. The ultimate inter-
story drifts increased to 7% (Δ=92.4 mm) which indicated that the CFRP sheets could
effectively improve the carrying capacities and deformation capacities of the specimens.
The slope of the hysteresis curve and the skeleton curve gradually decreased with the
increase of interstory drift, which showed that the stiffness of specimens gradually
degrades under low-cyclic reversed load. In this paper, secant stiffness Ki was calculated
according to formula (2) specified in reference [42] and was showed in Fig. 12.
|+Fi | + |−Fi |
Ki = | | | |
(2)
|+Xi | + |−Xi |
| | | |
In the formula, Fi was the peak load of the i-th cycle, and Xi was the ultimate dis-
placement of the i-th cycle, correspondingly.
From Fig. 12, it could be seen that the forms of secant stiffness degradation of all
specimens were basically the same. Firstly, the secant stiffness decreased rapidly when
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the interstory drift was less than 0.75% (Δ=9.9 mm). Then, the secant stiffness decreased
slowly when the interstory drift was between 1% (Δ=13.2 mm) - 2.5% (Δ=33.0 mm). At
last, the downtrend of secant stiffness tended to be stable when the interstory drift was
over 2.5% (Δ=33.0 mm).
The initial stiffness of RCC specimen was 15% greater than that of the CFRP50 and
CFRP100 specimens. The initial stiffness of CFRP50 and CFRP100 were almost the same.
With the increase of the interstory drift, the stiffness degradation of RCC specimen dete-
riorated more rapidly than that of the CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens. The stiffness deg-
radation of CFRP100 specimen degraded slowly when the interstory drift was over 2.5%
(Δ=33.0 mm). RCC specimen was damaged when the interstory drift was 4% (Δ=52.8
mm) and the residual stiffness of CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens were 24.4% and 47.9%
higher than the RCC specimen, respectively. When the interstory drift was 5% (Δ=66.0
mm), CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimens failed and the residual stiffness of CFRP100 was
22.3% higher than that of the CFRP50 specimen.
It could be found from Fig. 12 that the stiffness degradation of CFRP sheets rein-
forced specimens degraded more slowly than specimens without CFRP sheets specimens
when the interstory drift was larger than 2.5% (Δ=33.0 mm). For example, the stiffness of
the CFRP50W specimen was reduced by 44.1% compared with CFRP50 specimen was
58.6% when the interstory drift was 2.5% (Δ=33.0 mm) to 5% (Δ=66.0 mm). CFRP50 and
CFRP100 specimens were broken when the interstory drifts were 5% (Δ=66.0 mm). The
residual stiffnesses of CFRP50W and CFRP100W specimens were 48.3% and 47% greater
than CFRP50 and CFRP100 specimen, respectively. The results showed that the CFRP sheets
reinforced specimens still had stronger stiffness under large interstory drift and the CFRP
sheets were proven to further improved the seismic performances of concrete columns.
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The carrying capacity of the specimen decreased with the increase of loading times when
the interstory drift was the same. The degradation coefficient of carrying capacity could
be represented by the ratio of the peak load at the i-th cycle to the peak load at the (i-1)-th
cycle with the same interstory drift. In this paper, degradation coefficients λi of carrying
capacity was calculated according to formula (3) which was specified in reference [42] and
shown in Fig. 13.
Fji
𝜆i = (3)
Fji−1
It could be seen from carrying capacity degradation coefficients curves that all specimens
had great sustained loading capacity. The carrying capacity degradation coefficients of all
specimens were between 0.9 and 1. The curves of strength degradation of all concrete circu-
lar columns were relatively steady and the trends of the degradation coefficient were similar.
The residual deformation was the unrecoverable deformation of the structure after unload-
ing and could be used to describe the self-centering capacity of the structure. The curves of
residual deformations μ and interstory drifts δ were drawn according to the test results as
shown in Fig. 14.
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At the initial stage of the test, the residual deformations of specimens were rela-
tively small and the growth rate was slow when the interstory drift was lower than 1.0%
because the specimens were at the elastic stage. After that, the residual deformation of
RCC specimen increased rapidly which meant the RCC specimen reached the elasto-
plastic phase. By comparing the residual deformation of the specimens RCC, CFRP50
and CFRP100 under the same interstory drift, it was obviously seen that RCC specimen
had the largest residual deformation, then followed by CFRP50 specimen. CFRP100
specimen had the smallest residual deformation. The residual deformations of CFRP50
and CFRP100 specimens were 13.1% and 56.3% smaller than that of the RCC speci-
men, respectively. The test results showed that CFRP bars could effectively control the
residual deformations of the specimens and provided high self-centering capacities for
the specimens.
At the same interstory drift, the residual deformation of the CFRP50W specimen
was 20.5% smaller than that of the CFRP50 specimen and the residual deformation of
the CFRP100W specimen was 6.3% smaller than that of the CFRP100 specimen. It
was to say that the self-centering capacities of CFRP bars reinforced concrete circular
columns with CFRP strengthening partially were better than other concrete circular
columns. CFRP sheets could effectively control the crack development, improve the
deformation capacities and increase the self-centering capacities of the specimens.
The deformation recovery rates of the 5 specimens were listed in Table 6. The ratio
is more representative of self-centering capacity due to the final failure deformations
were different [44, 45].
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It could be easily seen from Table 6 that CFRP bars could provide excellent self-centering
capacities for concrete circular columns and effectively control the residual deformations of
the specimens, and the CFRP sheets could further increase the deformation recovery capac-
ity of the column. In summary, CFRP bars reinforced concrete circular columns with CFRP
strengthening partially could not only increase the deformation capacities but also the self-
centering capacities of the columns.
The energy dissipation capacity was an important indicator of the seismic performance of
the specimen. The intensity of energy dissipation capacity was usually measured with the
size of the area enclosed by the hysteresis curves [42]. In this paper, the monocyclic area
and the gross area of the hysteresis curves were calculated as shown in Table 7 and Fig. 15.
According to the analysis of Table 7, the monocyclic energy dissipation of RCC speci-
men was the largest. The monocyclic energy dissipation gradually decreased with the
increase of CFRP bars substitution rate. The energy dissipation suddenly reduced caused
by the loading process applied one cycle when the interstory drift was over 2.5%. Taking
the interstory drift 3% as an example, the energy dissipation of the CFRP50 and CFRP100
specimens were 74.2% and 62.8% of RCC specimen, respectively. The results showed
that the energy dissipation capacities of CFRP reinforced concrete specimens were sig-
nificantly lower than that of conventional reinforced concrete specimens. The main rea-
son for the above situation was steel bars can dissipate the seismic energy by the plastic
deformation; nevertheless, CFRP bars are linear elastic materials without the yield stage.
The monocyclic energy dissipation of CFRP sheets reinforced specimens were higher than
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the specimens without CFRP sheets and the increment was related to interstory drift. The
increment was about 5.5% when the interstory drift was 4% and was about 20% when the
interstory drift was 5%. Comparing with the cumulative energy dissipation of specimen,
the cumulative energy dissipation of CFRP100 specimen approximately descended 11.3%.
CFRP50W and CFRP100W showed excellent energy dissipation capacity: the cumula-
tive energy dissipations were 88.9% and 85.8% higher than CFRP50 and CFRP100 speci-
mens, 91.3% and 64.8% higher than RCC specimen, respectively. The result showed that
CFRP sheets reinforcement could dramatically increase the energy dissipation capacities
of specimens, remedy the imperfection of low energy dissipation in CFRP bars reinforced
columns and improve the seismic performances of specimens.
3.8 The Ductility
The ductility coefficient can be calculated by the ratio of the ultimate displacement to the yield
displacement. The yield displacement can be determined using the method proposed by Park [46].
The load of point A in the skeleton curve was 75% of the peak load. Connected point A and
point 0 as an extension line and intersect the horizontal line of the peak load to obtain point B.
The vertical line from point B intersected the skeleton curve to obtain point C. The load and
displacement corresponding to point C were the yield load and yield displacement. The calcu-
lation method was shown in Fig. 16 and the calculation results were shown in Table 8.
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It can be seen from Table 8, the ductility of CFRP50 specimen and CFRP100 speci-
men respectively decreased by 23.7% and 57.6% compared with RCC specimen, and the
ductility of CFRP50W specimen and CFRP100W specimen further decreased 17.8% and
16% compared with specimens without CFRP sheets. Then the specimen reinforced by
steel bars had the best ductility. The CFRP bars with the linear mechanical characteristics
decreased the ductility of the other 4 specimens even the CFRP sheets increased the ulti-
mate displacements.
4 Conclusions
In this paper, five circular columns reinforced with CFRP bars and CFRP sheets had been
tested under the low-cyclic reversed load to discuss the effect of CFRP bars and CFRP
sheets on the self-centering performance of the columns. The seismic performances of
concrete circular columns were researched by analyzing the hysteresis curves, stiffness
degradation, residual deformation, etc. The main conclusions were as follows:
1) CFRP bars can effectively improve the carrying capacity of the concrete circu-
lar columns. CFRP bars and CFRP sheets can increase the carrying capacities and the
deformation capacities of specimens. The ultimate carrying loading and interstory drift
of CFRP100W specimen are 21.5% and 40% higher than that of CFRP100 specimen,
respectively.
2) Concrete circular columns reinforced with CFRP bars and CFEP sheets have the
excellent self-centering capacity, residual deformation recovery rates of CFRP50W and
CFPR100W are up to 56.8% and 78.5% which are significantly higher than 31.8% of RCC
specimen.
3) CFRP bars have a certain improvement of stiffness degradation of concrete circular
columns under large interstory drift: the residual stiffness of CFRP100 specimen is 47.9%
higher than that of RCC specimen. At the same time, the residual stiffness of specimens
which strengthening partially with CFRP sheets increase about 48% than specimens with-
out CFRP sheets.
4) The energy dissipation capacities of the specimens are limited by the CFRP bars due
to the linear elastic behaviors. However, CFRP sheets can remedy the imperfection of low
energy dissipation caused by CFRP bars. The cumulative energy dissipation of CFRP50W
and CFRP100W specimens are 91.3% and 64.8% higher than RCC specimen, respectively.
5) The ductility of CFRP100 specimen is 57.6% lower than that of RCC specimen.
The CFRP reinforced specimens have less ductility even the CFRP bars and CFRP sheets
increased the ultimate displacements.
Limitations of the experiment are worthy of further research. For example, the seismic
performance test of specimens under a high axial compression ratio was not researched.
Acknowledgments Experimental work described in this paper was financially supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12002317), the National Key R&D Program of China
(2016YFE0125600), Program for Innovative Research Team of Education Ministry of China (IRT_16R67),
Thousand Talents Plan in Henan Province (ZYQR201912029), and Key Science and Technology Program
of Henan Province (212102310003).
Author Contributions Conceptualization: Jun Zhao, Xiaohui Ruan, Xinglong Gong; Methodology: Jun
Zhao, Wenbo Ren, Chenzhe Si; Formal analysis and investigation: Wenbo Ren, Xiaohui Ruan, Chenzhe Si;
Writing - original draft preparation: Jun Zhao, Wenbo Ren, Xiaohui Ruan; Writing - review and editing: Jun
Zhao, Xiaohui Ruan; Funding acquisition:Jun Zhao, Xiaohui Ruan; Supervision: Jun Zhao, Xiaohui Ruan.
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Data Availability The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the
corresponding author on reasonable request.
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