fib Symposium Keep Concrete Attractive, Budapest 2005

NON-LINEAR SEISMIC ANALYSIS OF A REINFORCED

CONCRETE BUILDING WITH FRP JACKETED COLUMNS
A. Ilki, K. Darilmaz, C. Demir, I. Bedirhanoglu, N. Kumbasar
Istanbul Technical University
34469, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey
SUMMARY
In this study, non-linear seismic analyses of a six story reinforced concrete building,
representing many common characteristics of typical existing buildings in Istanbul,
were carried out before and after retrofitting the columns of the building by carbon fiber
reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite sheets in transverse direction. For this purpose,
moment-curvature relationships of original and retrofitted columns were obtained by
cross-sectional fiber analysis, during which material models such as stress-strain curves
of reinforcing steel, unconfined concrete, and concrete confined by CFRP sheets were
utilized. According to the results of the analyses, significantly larger lateral
displacement and relatively higher lateral strength with respect to original performance
are possible by jacketing the columns of the building with CFRP sheets.
1. INTRODUCTION
Due to inadequate transverse reinforcement, many existing reinforced concrete
structures, which were constructed prior to recent earthquake resistant design codes,
suffer from inadequate ductility during earthquakes. Particularly, brittle columns
without adequate transverse reinforcement may cause total collapse of this type of
structures because of lack of sufficient deformation capacity. Retrofit of this type of
columns by fiber reinforced polymer jackets may enhance the seismic performance by
providing additional ductility, and reducing seismic force demand. In this study, the
seismic behavior of a typical existing building in Turkey is investigated by pushover
analysis before and after retrofitting its columns with CFRP jackets in transverse
direction. The building represents most of the typical construction deficiencies that are
common for the buildings constructed before recent earthquake resistant design codes.
These deficiencies are low quality of concrete (fc: 10 MPa), inadequate transverse
reinforcement (6 mm diameter bars with 300 mm spacing), relatively higher level of
column axial loads due to low concrete strength and relatively smaller column
dimensions (n=N/(bhf c) > 0.5) and usage of plain bars with relatively lower yield
strength (fy: 220 MPa). It may also be noted that the columns of the building are
rectangular in cross-section and beams are generally stronger than the columns. For
obtaining moment-curvature relationships to be used during pushover analysis, crosssectional fiber analysis approach was used for potential plastic hinge zones of the
structural members. While analyzing the original structure, unconfined concrete stressstress relationship was used for determining the contribution of concrete in the crosssections of structural members. For the analysis of the retrofitted structural members, a
stress-strain model for CFRP jacketed columns, which was specially proposed for
CFRP jacketed low strength concrete, was used. Both for original and retrofitted
members, a trilinear stress-strain relationship that took into account the effect of
buckling and strain hardening was used for reinforcing steel. The analytical results
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showed that the FRP jacketing of this type of deficient columns enhanced the overall
structural seismic performance by improving the ductility significantly and preventing
the premature loss of strength due to buckling of the longitudinal bars.
2. OUTLINE OF THE BUILDING
The reinforced concrete frame building, which was constructed around 1970, is in
Anatolian part of Istanbul on the highest seismic risk zone, where the design horizontal
acceleration is given as 0.4g by the Turkish Earthquake Resistant Design Code,
(Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, 1998). The footings of the six story building
are located on stiff rock, which can be classified as the strongest local site type
according to the Turkish Earthquake Resistant Design Code. The building is for
residential use and its typical floor plan is given in Fig.1. The characteristic concrete
compressive strength, which was used during structural and cross-sectional analyses is
10 MPa. Plain bars with characteristic yield strength of 220 MPa were used for all
members in longitudinal and transverse direction. Since the transverse bars of the
columns were 6 mm bars with 300 mm spacing, it is not realistic to expect a ductile
behavior for the original structure. According to the results of elastic analysis carried
out according to the Turkish Earthquake Resistant Design Code, the lateral drifts
exceeded the given limits and almost all of the columns were weak in terms of flexure.

Fig.1 Typical floor plan of the building

3. RETROFITTING
During the cross-sectional and structural analyses, it was seen that almost all of the
columns were weak in terms of ductility, leading an overall brittle behavior.
Consequently, it is assumed that all columns were externally confined with one ply of
CFRP sheets in transverse direction. The characteristics of the CFRP sheets, which
behave linear elastic until failure are given in Tab.1. In this table f*fu, Ef, *fu and tf are
the tensile strength, elasticity modulus, ultimate tensile elongation and effective
thickness of the CFRP sheets as given by the manufacturer.
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Tab.1 Characteristics of CFRP sheets

f*fu, MPa
3430

Ef, GPa
230

*fu
1.5%

tf, mm
0.165

Unit weight, kg/m3

1820

4. PUSHOVER ANALYSIS
The pushover analysis can be considered as a series of incremental static analyses
carried out to examine the non-linear behavior of structure, including the deformation
and damage pattern. The procedure consists of two parts. First, a target displacement for
the structure is established. The target displacement is an estimate of the seismic top
displacement of the building, when it is exposed to the design earthquake excitation.
Then, a pushover analysis is carried out on the structure until the displacement at the top
of the building reaches the target displacement. The extent of damage experienced by
the building at the target displacement is considered to be representative of the damage
experienced by the building when subjected to design level ground shaking. A judgment
is formed as to the acceptability of the structural behavior for the level of damage of an
existing building for evaluation purposes. During analysis, the nonlinear loaddeformation characteristics of individual members of the structure are incorporated in
the form of moment-rotation relationships. The effect of changes in column axial load
level due to the lateral loads is neglected for column plastic hinge properties. This
assumption yields that only the moment type plastic hinges could be used for columns.
The moment-rotation curves of column are obtained at an axial load level of gravity
loads. It is also assumed that adequate shear reinforcement exists for the structure to
satisfy no shear failure will occure before the bending failure. The structure is assumed
to be subjected to a monotonically increasing lateral load. The gravity loads are also
included in the mathematical model and combined with the lateral loads. The lateral
load variation is assumed to represent the distribution of inertia forces in a design
earthquake. In this study lateral loads are applied to the mathematical model as a pattern
of vertical distribution, proportional to Equivalent Seismic Load distribution as defined
in Turkish Earthquake Resistant Design Code. All the beams were assumed to have one
typical moment-curvature relationship with practically unlimited rotation capacity. The
observations from on-site damage surveys after earthquakes in Turkey are generally in
agreement with this assumption.
5. MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIPS
5.1 For original columns
Moment-curvature analysis was carried out by fiber element approach. During the
analysis, sections were divided into a number of fibers of either concrete or
reinforcement. By estimating the axial deformation for given curvatures, the axial
deformations, which satisfy the balance requirements, were predicted by an iterative
procedure. Then making use of the deformations, the resisted moments were calculated.
During this procedure, Hognestad model (Hognestad, 1951) was used for the stressstrain relationships of concrete and a trilinear stress-strain relationship with strain
hardening considering buckling was used for reinforcing steel.
5.2 For FRP jacketed columns
The analytical moment-curvature relationships of CFRP confined column sections were
also obtained by fiber element approach. In order to perform this analysis, sections were
divided into a number of fibers of either concrete or reinforcement and by estimating the
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axial deformation and curvature, the resisted moment and axial forces, which satisfy the
balance requirements, are predicted by an iterative procedure. During this procedure, the
stress-strain relationships of FRP confined concrete were obtained by utilizing the FRP
confined concrete model introduced by Ilki et al. (2004). Despite the availability of
numerous FRP confined concrete models in the literature, this model was selected due
to the applicability of the model for low strength concrete. Though combined
contribution of FRP jacket and internal transverse reinforcement were taken into
account, the contribution of internal transverse reinforcements was minor compared
with the FRPs. The stress-strain relationship of the reinforcement was modeled with a
trilinear strain hardening elasto-plastic reinforcement model.
6. EVALUATION OF ORIGINAL AND RETROFITTED PERFORMANCES
As many typical existing structures in Turkey, the dominant deficiencies of the building
were poor flexural performance due to plain longitudinal bars, low concrete quality,
inadequate transverse reinforcement and small cross-sectional sizes of the columns. And
all of the columns in the building were flexure critical before and after being jacketed
with CFRP composite sheets. Before retrofitting, some of the columns even could not
exhibit their flexural performance due to premature buckling of longitudinal bars. The
moment-curvature relationships for some of the columns before and after retrofitting
with one ply of transverse CFRP sheets are presented in Figs.2a and 2b. The
corresponding stress-strain curves for concrete and reinforcing steel before and after
retrofitting are also presented in Figs.2c and 2d, respectively. In Fig.2d, the marked
points correspond to tensile strains of longitudinal reinforcement at ultimate curvature,
where external CFRP composite sheets ruptured and member failed suddenly for
different columns. Main characteristics of these five sample columns are given in Tab.2.
In this table, n is the ratio of applied axial load to the axial capacity and is the
geometric ratio of longitudinal reinforcement. The top displacement-base shear and
spectral acceleration-spectral displacement relationships obtained by push-over analysis
for original and retrofitted structures in Y direction are presented in Fig.3 and 4,
respectively. In Fig.3, the base shear coefficient level calculated according to Turkish
Earthquake Resistant Design Code is also shown. To validate the ability of original and
retrofitted systems to satisfy the collapse prevention performance level for the design
earthquake, the capacity spectrum method (ATC-40, 1996) is carried out, assuming the
structural behavior type C for original structure and B for retrofitted structure and the
local site as hard rock.
Tab.2 Characteristics of sample columns
Column

Story

Section
(mm)

n
(%)

Longitudinal
Reinforcement

S211
S120
S531
S330
S132

2
1
5
3
1

300x500
300x500
240x240
240x240
240x240

40
60
23
40
82

6R16
6R16
4R14
4R14
4R14

0.0080
0.0080
0.0107
0.0107
0.0107

Although a performance point could be found for retrofitted system, original system
could not resist the design earthquake within the collapse prevention performance level.
The design earthquake is defined probabilistically as the level of ground shaking that
has a 20 percent chance of being exceeded in a 50 year period.

40

140

35

120

30
Moment (kNm)

Moment (kNm)

160

100
80
60
S211-1 ply CFRP, n=0.40

40

20

S531-1 Ply CFRP, n=0.23

S330-1 Ply CFRP, n=0.40

15

S132-1 Ply CFRP, n=0.82

10

S120-1 Ply CFRP, n=0.60

S211-original, n=0.40

20

25

S531-Original, n=0.23
S330-Original, n=0.40

S120-original, n=0.60
0
0.00

0.05

0.10

S132-Original, n=0.82

0
0.00

0.15

0.10

Curvature (1/m)

0.20

1.25

250

1.00

200

0.75

240mmx240mm-1 Ply CFRP

300mmx500mm-1 Ply CFRP
Original

0.25
0.00
0.000

0.40

0.50

b)
300

Tensile Stress

c/fco

a)
1.50

0.50

0.30

Curvature (1/m)

1 Ply ,n=0.82

1 Ply, n=0.23

Original, n=0.23

150
100
50

240mmx240mm

Original, n=0.82

0
0.005

0.010

0.015

0.020

0.025

0.030

0.00

0.02

Axial Strain

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

Tensile Strain

c)

d)

Fig.2 Moment-curvature relationships for selected columns and corresponding stressstrain curves for concrete in compression and reinforcing bars in tension

2000

Base shear (kN)

1600

Y direction

1200
800

Original structure
Retrofitted structure

400

Turkish Earthquake Resistant Design Code (1998)

0
0

50

100

150

200

Top displacement (mm)

Fig.3 Base shear-top displacement relationships for original and retrofitted structures

0.8
Elastic Demand

Spectral Acceleration

0.7
0.6

Reduced demand spectra

for original structure

0.5
0.4

Reduced demand spectra

for retrofitted structure

0.3
0.2

Performance point
for retrofitted structure

Original
structure

0.1

0.03

0.06

0.09

0.12

0.15

Spectral Displacement (m)

Fig.4 Spectral acceleration-spectral displacement relationships for Y direction

7. CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions are drawn after an attempt for analysing the inelastic
behavior of a typical existing reinforced concrete structure in Istanbul with various
deficiencies before and after retrofitting its columns by wrapping one ply CFRP
composite sheets in transverse direction. Even though the structural members of the
building were flexure critical, the applied retrofitting technique increased shear
strengths of the members significantly, as well as providing significant enhancement in
ductility. Beside the ductility enhancement, since CFRP jacketed concrete could
experience significantly large compressive strains without loss of strength, the
reinforcing bars could also exhibit significantly large tensile strains making strain
hardening possible. Consequently, beside significant enhancement in ductility, flexural
strength also increased slightly due to increase in tensile strength of the reinforcement.
The increase in the lever arm between tensile reinforcement and concrete compression
force also contributed strength enhancement of the columns. The retrofitting technique
also prevented premature buckling of longitudinal bars in compression maintaining the
contribution of reinforcement until relatively larger deformations. The improved
performances of retrofitted structural members developed the overall structure
performance in terms of ductility and lateral strength, ductility being more pronounced.
8. REFERENCES
ATC (1996), Seismic evaluation and retrofit of concrete buildings, Rep. ATC-40,
Applied Technology Council, Redwood City, California.
Hognestad, E. (1951), A Study of Combined Bending and Axial Load in RC
Members, University of Illinois, Engineering Experimental Station Bulletin Series
No. 399.
Ilki, A., Kumbasar, N. and Koc, V. (2004), Low Strength Concrete Members
Externally Confined with FRP Sheets, Int. J. Str. Eng. Mech., Vol. 18, No. 2, 167194.
Turkish Earthquake Resistant Design Code (1998), Ministry of Public Works and
Settlement, Ankara.