Analytical Model for FRP Confinement of Concrete Columns with and without Internal Steel Reinforcement

The paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the behavior of reinforced concrete columns confined with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets. In particular, some new insights on interaction mechanisms between internal steel reinforcement and external FRP strengthening and their influence on efficiency of FRP confinement technique are given. In this context a procedure to generate the complete stress-strain response including new analytical proposals for (1) effective confinement pressure at failure; (2) peak stress; (3) ultimate stress; (4) ultimate axial strain; and (5) axial strain corresponding to peak stress for FRP confined elements with circular and rectangular cross sections, with and without internal steel reinforcement, is presented. Interaction mechanisms between internal steel reinforcement and external FRP strengthening, shown by some experimental results obtained at the University of Padova with accurate measurements, are taken into account in the analytical model. Four experimental databases regarding FRP confined concrete columns, with circular and rectangular cross section with and without steel reinforcement, are gathered for the assessment of some of the confinement models shown in literature and the new proposed model. The proposed model shows a good performance and analytical stress-strain curves approximate some available test results quite well.