Analytical Model for the Design of HSFC and UHSFC Jackets with Various Steel Fiber Volume Fraction Ratios for the Retrofitting of RC Beam-Column Joints

Abstract

High-strength steel fiber-reinforced concrete (HSFC) and ultra-high strength steel fiber-reinforced concrete (UHSFC) jackets have been proved experimentally to be much more effective with respect to other strengthening schemes in improving the hysteresis performance of existing substandard reinforced concrete (RC) structural members. In this paper, an existing analytical model for the prediction of the shear capacity of RC beam-column joints strengthened with a HSFC or UHSFC jacket is extended to provide design formulation of these innovative HSFC and UHSFC jackets. An authoritative validation of the proposed formulation is also achieved by comparisons of experimental results of 50 beam-column joint specimens with the analytical predictions of the model. Test data used for verification have been collected from the literature based on experimental studies of the authors and other researchers. The merits of the HSFC and UHSFC jacketing technique are also highlighted in the state of practice. Design and application of the proposed fiber-reinforced concrete jackets in deficient existing RC beam-column joints provides a sustainable strengthening technique by contributing to the reduction in the cost and to labor-intensive procedures of common jackets by completely replacing the installation of reinforcement.