Axial Load Behavior of Concrete Columns Confined with GFRP Spirals

The writers evaluated the confinement that was provided by glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) spirals in concrete columns under axial load. Given that GFRP spirals are resistant to chloride-induced corrosion, the option of replacing steel spirals with GFRP spirals was explored to determine whether this would reduce the corrosion of the vertical steel bars in hybrid columns. The writers investigated the axial load behavior of 10 spirally reinforced concrete columns. Six of the 254-mm diameter columns were confined with a GFRP spiral and four were confined with a steel spiral. Some of the columns that were confined with a GFRP spiral utilized steel vertical bars (hybrid columns), whereas others utilized GFRP vertical bars (all-GFRP columns). The stress-strain and load-displacement behavior of all columns was studied. Analytical expressions predicted the axial load capacity of the hybrid and all-GFRP-reinforced concrete columns. Axial compression tests of all-steel-reinforced and hybrid specimens subjected to accelerated corrosion were also carried out. The latter exhibited a smaller corrosion rate, similar axial load capacity, and equal or higher ductility relative to steel corroded columns.