Experimental Investigation of Composite Circular Encased GFRP I-Section Concrete Columns under Different Load Conditions

Pultruded materials made of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) come in a broad range of shapes, such as bars, I-sections, C-sections, etc. FRP materials are starting to compete with steel as structural materials owing to their great resistance, low self-weight, and cheap maintenance costs, especially in corrosive conditions. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel concrete Composite Column (CC) using Encased I-Section (EIS) as a reinforcement in contrast to traditional steel bars by using Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) as I-section (CC-EIS) to evaluate the effectiveness of the hybrid columns which have been built by combining GFRP profiles with concrete columns. To achieve the aims of this study, nine circular columns with a diameter of 150 mm and a height of 1000 mm were cast with compression strength equal to 42.4 MPa at the test day. The research involved three different types of reinforcement: Hybrid circular columns with GFRP I-section and 1% reinforcement ratio of steel bars, Hybrid circular columns with steel I-section and 1% reinforcement ratio of steel bars (the cross-section area of the I-section was the same for GFRP and for steel), and a reference column without an I-section. This study investigates the ultimate capacity, axial and lateral deformation, and failure mode of the circular columns under different loading conditions: concentric, eccentric (with eccentricities of 25 mm), and flexural loading. The results showed that the ultimate capacity of the composite columns using either encased steel I-section or GFRP I-section was higher than the traditional columns under all loading conditions. The concentric tested specimens, with steel I-section and with GFRP I-section, exceeded the ultimate strength of the reference specimen by 8.9% and 2.9%, respectively. Specimens with steel I-section and GFRP I-section achieved 11.9% and 9.7% higher ultimate strength than the reference specimens under a compression load of 25 mm eccentricity. Specimens with steel I-section and the specimens with GFRP I-section achieved ultimate strengths of 114.3% and 36.6% under flexural loading testing.