Investigation of the Compressive Behaviours of Waste-Containing FRP-Confined Concrete Columns

Statistics have shown that construction sites around the world contribute significantly to the global carbon emission, from about 8% contribution of the manufacturing process of cement to the disposal of construction demolition wastes. Attempts are also being made to utilise these wastes in construction, especially concrete, but studies have also shown that they reduce the performance of concrete. Fibre-reinforced polymers have been suggested as a possible solution to enhance the performance of waste-containing concrete, as successes have been achieved in their use for strengthening plain and steel-reinforced concrete structures. However, gaps still exist in using FRPs in concrete columns containing wastes. In this study, investigations are being made to explore the gaps, and the work done so far is presented. A review of the literature was carried out to assess the state-of-the-art in the research area. Various construction wastes and their usage in concrete, recycled aggregates, supplementary cementitious materials, and fibre-reinforced polymers were reviewed. The models of FRP-confined concrete columns were also examined for circular, square, and rectangular cross-sections. Furthermore, initial investigations were carried out on the compressive behaviour of FRP-confined concrete columns by simulating a published experimental study using ABAQUS. A mesh sensitivity test was carried out to know the optimum mesh size, while the compressive behaviour was evaluated using the stress–strain curves. The numerical results were compared with the experimental results, and a good agreement existed between the two outputs. The behaviour of the ductility-enhancing capacity of fibre-reinforced polymers in concrete was also investigated.