Lateral force-resisting behavior of GFRP-tube reinforced concrete-filled multicellular steel tubular shear walls under cyclic loads

Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) tubes have been used in this study to reinforce the concrete-filled multicellular steel tubular (CF-MCST) shear walls. The lateral force-resisting behavior under cyclic loads was studied through fiber and finite element analyses which were implemented via OpenSees and ABAQUS, respectively and the analysis models were validated against test results including hysteresis curve, skeleton curve, stiffness degradation, and energy dissipation. The finite element analysis revealed the failure modes, confinement effect, and the load-transfer mechanism of the GFRP-tube reinforced CF-MCST shear walls under cyclic loads, whereas the fiber element analysis demonstrated the effects of material strength, confining stiffness, and axial compression ratio on their elastic stiffness, capacity, and ductility. Overall, the GFRP tubes had little effect on the elastic stiffness but significantly improved their load-carrying and energy-dissipating capacities; the fiber element analysis was found to yield better prediction on hysteresis curve than the finite element analysis especially the pinch effect.

Automated summary

The study used glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) tubes to reinforce concrete-filled multicellular steel tubular (CF-MCST) shear walls. Through fiber and finite element analyses, it was found that GFRP tubes had little effect on elastic stiffness but significantly improved load-carrying and energy-dissipating capacities of the CF-MCST shear walls under cyclic loads.