EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON SEISMIC STRENGTHENING OF RC COLUMNS WITH WRAPPED CFRP SHEETS

The paper describes the testing of eight specimens under constant axial load and lateral cyclic load to investigate seismic performance of RC (reinforced concrete) columns strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheet. The eight specimens included two strengthened after yielding to imitate strengthening with some damage and one strengthened under a sustained axial load to imitate strengthening under service. Studied is the ductility increment with the confinement of CFRP sheet. An effective confinement factor of CFRP was suggested based on the experimental results. The paper concludes that the seismic design method of current seismic design code can be directly used in determining seismic strengthening amount of CFRP sheet for RC column.