Numerical and Experimental Study on the Performance of Confined Concrete Subjected to Compressive Loading

This paper presents a numerical and experimental study on the behavior of composite sections using different levels of concrete strength and subjected to axial compression. It provides comparison in the behaviour of concrete confined using steel tubes and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) wraps. Three levels of concrete compressive strength (25, 30 and 43 MPa) were used in this study and the axial load-strain was obtained for composite sections. The results showed that the peak load for the composite sections depends on the compressive strength of the steel tube and the ratio of the confined to unconfined composite sections that was found to be 3.8, 3.2 and 2.5 for concrete strengths of 25, 30 and 43 MPa, respectively. This ratio was found to be 1.8 for concrete confined by CFRP. Numerical simulation using Drucker-Prager plasticity model was conducted for steel-concrete composite and the material parameters were calibrated by experimental results.