Flexural Performance of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Prestressed Spun High-Strength Concrete Pile

Abstract

Prestressed spun high-strength concrete (PHC) piles are commonly used in various types of structures, including bridges, buildings and marine infrastructures. However, piles installed in aggressive environments are vulnerable to corrosion of the steel, which can lead to rapid degradation of the piles. As a corrosion-resistant material, carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) is considered an alternative to steel tendons for durability enhancement. In this study, a new pile system with CFRP was proposed. Experimental tests of three full-scale piles and a numerical analysis of eight piles with various parameters were performed to investigate the flexural performance of CFRP prestressed spun high-strength concrete pile. The proposed piles were loaded under four-point bending after prestressing. The experimental and numerical results verified the feasibility of the proposed system, and the CFRP pile exhibited twice of flexural capacity of that of steel-reinforced piles. The flexural performance of the CFRP PHC pile was significantly affected by the reinforcement ratio, prestressing level and modulus of the CFRP. An analytical approach predicting the flexural capacity of the CFRP PHC pile was proposed based on the parametric study. Ninety percent accuracy was achieved for the proposed analytical approach. The presented study can significantly promote the application of CFRP in pile foundations and improve the durability of PHC piles.