Flexural behavior of novel FRP-reinforced concrete slabs with FRP confinement in compression zone

The poor ductility of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)-reinforced concrete (RC) flexural members has emerged as a major limitation to their applications in practical engineering. Although there has been some research aimed at improving the flexural ductility of FRP-RC beams, most of the ductility improvement approaches proposed in these studies are limited by their complexity or low cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, the existing studies have mainly focused on FRP-RC beams, while the research on FRP-RC slabs is still lacking. Against this background, this study investigates a novel ductile FRP-RC slab with FRP spiral confinement in the compression zone, which achieves flexural ductility improvement through plastic compression yielding of FRP spiral-confined concrete core. An experimental program comprising seven full-scale slab specimens was conducted to confirm the effectiveness of such novel FRP-RC slabs. The design parameters investigated included the configurations of FRP spirals, material types of longitudinal FRP tension bars, and slab dimensions. The test results demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of FRP spiral confinement in enhancing the flexural ductility of FRP-RC slabs and provide crucial insights into the investigated parameter effects.