Seismic Performance of Reinforced Concrete Columns Retrofitted with Hybrid Concrete Jackets Subjected to Combined Loadings

Abstract

In the existing reinforced concrete columns where they are insufficient seismic details, critical failure mode such as shear failure can be observed under seismic loads. One strategy for the retrofitting of existing concrete columns is to use concrete jacketing. Concrete jacketing consists of a new concrete layer with longitudinal and transverse reinforcements, and can improve seismic resistance capacity. In this paper, a detail of concrete jacket that can be expected for easy construction and improved adhesion performance of longitudinal and transverse reinforcement was proposed. Additionally, a combined cyclic loading test was conducted to consider the seismic load with multiaxial characteristics. The concrete jacket details utilize three components: Steel Grid Reinforcement (SGR), Steel Wire Mesh (SWM), and Steel Fiber Non-Shrinkage Mortar (SFNM). One RC column with non-seismic details and two jacketed RC columns were fabricated to demonstrate the construction efficiencies and structural capacities of the jacketed columns. Two details of jacketed section were considered as variables. It was observed that the specimens retrofitted with concrete jacket resisted torsional load more than the un-retrofitted specimen in terms of crack and failure mode. The experimental results showed that the maximum load of retrofitted specimens was increased by more than 8 times compared to the un-retrofitted specimen, regardless of the jacket details. Newly designed concrete jacket effectively increased the strength. Compared with the un-retrofitted column, the columns retrofitted with the proposed details achieved significant increase in initial stiffness and energy dissipation.