Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Effects of confinement level, cross-section shape and corner radius

on the cyclic behavior of CFRCM confined concrete columns
Piero Colajanni a,⇑, Marinella Fossetti b, Giuseppe Macaluso c
a
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Informatica, Edile, Ambientale e Matematica Applicata, Università di Messina, Via Nuova Panoramica dello Stretto, S. Agata,
98126 Messina, Italy
b
Facoltà di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università degli Studi di Enna Kore, Cittadella Universitaria, 94100 Enna, Italy
c
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, Aerospaziale e dei Materiali, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy

h i g h l i g h t s

 Cyclic behavior of concrete columns wrapped with Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix.
 Experimental tests on monotonic and cyclic axial compression.
 Investigation on effect of confinement level, cross-section shape and corner radius.
 Gain in compressive strength, deformability and absorption energy capacity.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The main results of an experimental research aiming to investigate the behavior of medium-size low-
Received 19 September 2013 strength concrete columns wrapped with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (CFRCM) under
Received in revised form 7 January 2014 monotonic and cyclic compressive axial loads are presented. Thirty columns with circular, square and
Accepted 11 January 2014
rectangular cross-sections were tested under monotonic and cyclic axial loads to investigate the effect
Available online 12 February 2014
of the confinement level, the cross-section shape and the corner radius on the stiffness, strength, and duc-
tility of CFRCM confined concrete columns under cyclic loads. The results prove that CFRCM confining
Keywords:
jackets provide substantial gain in compressive strength, deformability and absorbed energy.
Carbon fiber
Cementitious matrix
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Cyclic actions
Confinement
Experimental tests

1. Introduction
The use of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites as wraps
or jackets for upgrading existing reinforced concrete columns has
become increasingly popular in recent years. This jacketing tech-
nique has been developing rapidly as it makes it possible to obtain
a large increment of the deformation capacity of the concrete in
critical regions [1], where large plastic deformations are expected,
increase in concrete strength and reduction in loss of stiffness and
strength due to cyclic action, protection and prevention of corro-
sion, with minimal change in the weight and geometry of the
structure.
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0903977161, mobile: +39 333 17 00 589; fax:
+39 0903977457.
E-mail addresses: pcolajanni@unime.it (P. Colajanni), marinella.fossetti@
unikore.it (M. Fossetti), giuseppe.macaluso@unipa.it (G. Macaluso).
However, some drawbacks occur when organic resins are used
to bind the fibers: for example, inapplicability on wet surfaces, lack
of vapor permeability, high costs of epoxy resin and of specialized
workers for application, inapplicability at temperatures of less than
10 °C or more than 30 °C, sensitivity to elevated or low tempera-
ture. Epoxy resin degrades quickly when temperature grows,
releasing toxic fumes; fiber embedded in matrix resin system
undergoes liquid transition at very high temperatures, resulting
in a weak bond between concrete and external reinforcement.
To solve these drawbacks, inorganic matrix systems have been
introduced as a replacement for the organic matrix systems [2–
11]. Unfortunately, as a consequence of the granularity of the mor-
tar, penetration and impregnation of fiber sheets is very difficult to
achieve since mortars cannot wet individual fibers. However, the
use of fiber textile, in conjunction with the development of new
materials for the fiber [8,9,11] are able to ensure an adequate bond
between textile and matrix.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.01.035
0950-0618/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
380 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389
Despite a lower tight interaction, the inorganic matrix has a
number of advantages, such as full compatibility with the concrete
substrate, the same resistance to fire, applicability on wet surfaces
and low costs of application (easy application even on rough or
irregular surfaces) and does not requires qualified workmen, and
is a sustainable and reversible system.
During the past decade, extensive research has been conducted
on the behavior of FRP confined concrete columns, but fewer
studies have been concerned with the use of the inorganic matrix
composite system as a confinement technique.
Researches on the use of textile for reinforcement of concrete ele-
ment started in the 1980s [12], while in the late 1990s fervent re-
searches began on the use of fiber embedded in inorganic matrix
for design and strengthening of concrete elements [2,13]. The first
studies regarding the use of carbon fiber sheet embedded in inor-
ganic matrix for confinement of concrete element reported in the
international literature is that of Wu and Teng [3], where small
cylinders were tested, and the inorganic matrix was found to ensure
the same behavior, in terms of strength and deformability incre-
ment, as the traditional epoxy resin. Triantafillou et al. [4] investi-
gated the use of Textile Reinforced Matrix (TRM) jacketing as an
alternative to FRP jacketing for confinement of concrete elements.
They used carbon fiber textile, and investigated the influence on
confinement efficiency of the use of inorganic mortar versus epoxy
resin and of the strength of the inorganic mortar, and the role of
the number of textile layers. The experimental test proved that
TRM jacketing was effective in providing a strength and deformabi-
lity increment, with reduced efficiency with respect to FRP jacketing
of about 80% for strength and 50% for ultimate strain, with the excep-
tion of square columns, where almost the same efficiency was found.
Both the strength of the mortar and the number of textile layers
were found to have great influence on the performance of the confin-
ing system. Moreover, it was found that failure of TRM was less
abrupt compared with that of its resin impregnated counterparts,
due to slowly progressing fracture of individual fiber bundles. In a
subsequent paper, Bournas et al. [5] investigated the effectiveness
of the same confining system in providing strength and deformabi-
lity increases to reinforced concrete columns prone to buckling of
longitudinal reinforcement, due to poor detailing of the stirrups.
They found TRM confining jackets approximately 10% less effective
than FRP ones when small-scale specimens subjected to an axial
load were considered, and more effective as the number of textile
layers grows, while no reduction in effectiveness was found in tests
on nearly full-scale columns under cyclic flexure. Ombres [6] evalu-
ated the effectiveness of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Cement Mortar
(CFRCM) in confining columns with circular, square and rectangular
cross-sections under axial compressive loads with variation in the
amount of fiber reinforcement and at temperatures ranging from
25 °C to 90 °C. They found that the constitutive behavior of the con-
fined concrete changes with variation in the number of confining
layers of CFRCM, ranging from strain softening behavior for a low
amount of fiber layers to strain hardening for heavily confined spec-
imens; the increase in the temperature produced a reduction in the
strength of the confined elements, while the influence on the ulti-
mate strain value was negligible. De Caso y Basolo et al. [7] explored
different types of grouts as inorganic matrices along different types
of fiber architecture (unidirectional and bidirectional meshes of
low-density and high-density glass fiber sheet) and three types of
grout, namely acrylic-modified Portland cement based matrix,
hydraulic cement based matrix with high water retention, and a sin-
gle-component magnesium-phosphate-based matrix. They found
that the use of low-density glass fiber allowed for more effective fi-
ber impregnation, and was the most effective reinforcement with
both types of acrylic and hydraulic cementitious matrix, with higher
levels of ultimate strength reached with the hydraulic base grout
and similar levels of ultimate strain. Colajanni et al. [8,9] tested small
circular and square cross-section specimens made of low strength
concrete subjected to monotonic uniaxial compression to investi-
gate the efficiency of a Polypara-phenylene-benzo-bisthiazole
(PBO) Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Mortars (FRCM) system. The
experimental results showed that confinement with PBO fiber pro-
duced a noticeable increment in strength and ductility, though the
low mechanical ratios of fiber considered were not always able to
ensure hardening behavior up to rupture. Trapko [11] investigated
the efficiency of PBO fiber bidirectional warped mesh, with four
times as many fibers in the direction of the warp as in the direction
of the weft, embedded in an inorganic matrix in confining concrete
cylinders. He investigated the feasibility and the performance of
multilayer jacketing, and the influence of external temperature, by
comparison with CFRP embedded in epoxy resin, also testing speci-
mens exposed to temperatures ranging from 30 °C to 180 °C. He
stressed that FRCM could give an even better strengthening effect
than CFRP, since the failure modes are quite different. CFRP speci-
mens failed by sharp rupture of the jacketing, and the higher the
number of sheet layers, the more the concrete was crushed. The
damage pattern in PBO confined elements was completely different,
having initiated at the external pleat, which was 70 mm for each
specimen, and the damage propagated slowly. With an increase in
the number of FRCM layers the performance of the confining system
increased, though the author concluded that there is a limit thick-
ness of composite jacket beyond which composite strengthening
ceases to have positive effects; moreover, for FRCM heat treatment
had little effect on intensity of strengthening.
It has to be emphasized that in the literature there is still a lack
of knowledge on many aspects of FRCM confined concrete that
have been clarified for FRP jacketing, such as the role of the round-
ness of the corner, as well as the effect of cyclic load in deteriorat-
ing the strength, deformability and toughness provided by the
confining system.
In this context, this paper reports the main results of an experi-
mental research aiming to investigate the behavior of medium-size
low-strength concrete columns wrapped with Carbon Fiber Rein-
forced Cementitious Matrix (CFRCM) under monotonic and cyclic
compressive axial loads. Thirty columns with circular, square and
rectangular cross-sections were tested under monotonic and cyclic
axial loads to investigate the effect of the confinement level, the
cross-section shape and the corner radius on the stiffness, strength,
and ductility of CFRCM confined concrete columns under cyclic loads.
2. Materials and mechanical characterization
2.1. Plain concrete
The columns were cast with a concrete typical of buildings that require struc-
tural retrofitting (low-strength concrete). Portland cement (ASTM International
Type I) was used. The cement:sand:gravel proportions in the concrete mixture were
roughly 1:1.9:2.33 by weight and the water/cement ratio was 0.35. The maximum
size of the coarse aggregate was 10 mm. In order to characterize the mechanical
behavior of the concrete, six cylindrical specimens measuring 150  300 mm were
prepared and tested in monotonic and cyclic compression after 28 days of curing.
The average compressive strength was 16.66 N/mm2 while the average ultimate
strain was 0.406%. Fig. 1 shows the experimental results of the three tests in terms
of r–e curves.
2.2. Carbon fiber mesh
As a consequence of the granularity of the mortar impregnation of fiber sheets
is very difficult to achieve. To facilitate the degree of penetration of the mortar ma-
trix in the fibers, as also reported in [4,5,10,11], a fiber mesh was used. A commer-
cial carbon fiber mesh measuring 10  10 mm (RUREDIL XMESHC10) with equal
quantities of high-strength carbon fiber in the two orthogonal directions was used
(Fig. 2a). The width and the nominal thickness (based on the equivalent smeared
distribution of fibers) of each layer of carbon fiber were 4 mm and 0.047 mm
respectively, while the weight of carbon fibers was 168 g/m2. The tensile strength
and the elastic modulus of the carbon fibers were 4800 MPa and 240 GPa, respec-
tively. All values were provided by the manufacturer.
 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389 381

20 specimens with rectangular cross-section shape having dimensions

monotonic 200  400 mm (series R). All specimens were 600 mm in height.
cyclic In order to investigate the effect of medium and high lateral
confinement pressure, the cylindrical specimens were wrapped
15 with 2 and 3 layers of bonded textile, while the prismatic speci-
mens were wrapped with 2 and 4 layers of bonded textile (denoted
as F2 and F4 respectively), in order to check whether the increment
in the number of textile layers was able partially to compensate for
σ [MPa]

10 the loss of confinement efficiency with a change from a circular to

5 evaluate the influence of cyclic loading on the behavior of CFRCM
0 specimens unconfined concrete columns were prepared as control
0 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016
ε
Fig. 1. Stress–strain curves for plain concrete.
2.3. Binding mortar
The stabilized inorganic matrix was a commercial pozzolanic hydraulic binder
provided by the manufacturer of the fiber mesh (RUREDIL). The mechanical charac-
teristics were obtained through flexural and compression testing on six
160  40  40 mm mortar prisms hardened for 28 days. The average of the results
obtained was consistent with the manufacturer’s instructions: compressive
strength 31.17 MPa, flexural strength 9.46 MPa and secant elastic modulus
>15,000 MPa.
3. Experimental program
3.1. Preparation of test specimens
In addition to investigating the effects of cyclic load, this exper-
imental program included studies on the following column param-
eters: shape of cross-section; percentage of confinement fibers
(confinement volumetric ratio); corner radius in the prismatic
sections. All specimens were axially unreinforced since jacket-
ing–reinforcement interaction was outside the scope of the present
study.
To examine the aforementioned tests variables, the following
were cast: 10 specimens with circular cross-section shape having
diameter U = 200 mm (series C), 10 specimens with square
cross-section shape with side 200  200 mm (series S) and 10
a prismatic section shape.
Half the prismatic specimens were cast with a corner radius of
15 mm and the remaining half with a corner radius of 30 mm. To
confined concrete columns, half the specimens were tested under
monotonic compression and the remaining half under cyclic com-
pression. In addition to the confined specimens, for each series of
specimens.
The specimens are identified by a code in the format X J F#K-m,
where X refers to the cross-section shape (X = C for cylindrical spec-
imens, X = S for square specimens, X = R for rectangular specimens),
J (if present) refers to the corner curvature radius (J = 15 or J = 30),
the digit F# refers to the confinement system (F0 for unconfined
specimens, F# for specimens confined with # layers of textile), K re-
fers to the application load mode (K = M for monotonic load, K = C
for cyclic load), and the code letter m (m = a or m = b) was used
to distinguish the samples for identical specimens. For example,
the specimen S15F4M is a square column with a corner radius of
15 mm, wrapped by four layers of carbon fiber and subjected to a
monotonic load.
The cylindrical and prismatic specimens were cast in stiff plas-
tic and steel moulds respectively. All specimens were capped with
special self-leveling high-strength mortar. Application of the
CFRCM jacket required soaking in water, application of the binding
mortar in a layer about 3 mm thick and burial of the carbon fiber
mesh in it. Afterwards it was necessary to apply a second layer
of binding mortar about 3 mm thick so as to cover the mesh com-
pletely. When several layers of fiber mesh were required, the oper-
ation described above was repeated, wet on wet, by applying the
next layer when the previous layer was not completely hardened.
At the end of the fiber mesh a 100 mm overlap was added, as rec-
ommended by the FRCM system manufacturer at the date at which
the experimental survey started.
For unconfined and confined columns, the key geometrical
characteristics are presented in Tables 1 and 2 respectively. The

Fig. 2. (a) Carbon fiber mesh; and (b) application of CFRCM jacket.
382 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389

Table 1
Geometrical details of unconfined columns and key results.

Specimen Cross Corner No of Loading Maximum stress Ultimate stress Axial strain at Ultimate axial Absorbed
section radius textile pattern fco (N/mm2) fuo (N/mm2) maximum stress eco strain euo (%) energy Eo
(mm) (mm) layers (%) (MJ/m3)
CF0M-a U200 – – Monotonic 16.80 13.44 0.2511 0.4292 0.057
CF0M-b U200 – – Monotonic 16.08 12.86 0.2027 0.3572 0.047
CF0C U200 – – Cyclic 16.55 13.24 0.1677 0.2528 0.042
S15F0M 200  200 15 – Monotonic 16.48 13.18 0.2037 0.3038 0.035
S30F0C 200  200 30 – Cyclic 15.90 12.72 0.1828 0.2724 0.030
R15F0M 200  400 15 – Monotonic 14.99 11.99 0.2513 0.4398 0.050
R30F0C 200  400 30 – Cyclic 14.62 11.70 0.1913 0.4113 0.046
Average 15.92 12.73 0.2072 0.3524 0.044
value

Table 2
Geometrical details of CFRCM confined columns and key results.

Specimen Corner No of qf (%) Loading Normalized Normalized axial strain at Normalized ultimate Normalized
radius textile pattern maximum stress maximum stress ecc/eco axial strain ecu/euo absorbed energy
(mm) layers fcc/fco E/Eo
CF2M-a – 2 0.188 Monotonic 1.24 5.58 3.81 5.06
CF2M-b – 2 0.188 Monotonic 1.28 6.63 4.40 5.88
CF2C – 2 0.188 Cyclic 1.24 5.23 3.45 4.42
CF3M-a – 3 0.282 Monotonic 1.41 4.67 3.41 5.04
CF3M-b – 3 0.282 Monotonic 1.49 4.34 2.79 4.10
CF3C-a – 3 0.282 Cyclic 1.48 6.42 3.93 5.88
CF3C-b – 3 0.282 Cyclic 1.44 5.12 3.48 5.15
S15F2M 15 2 0.188 Monotonic 1.20 1.04 2.07 2.62
S15F2C 15 2 0.188 Cyclic 1.16 1.62 2.04 2.23
S15F4M 15 4 0.376 Monotonic 1.41 2.04 2.36 3.24
S15F4C 15 4 0.376 Cyclic 1.54 3.61 2.59 4.31
S30F2M 30 2 0.188 Monotonic 1.16 1.44 2.06 2.51
S30F2C 30 2 0.188 Cyclic 1.18 1.34 2.03 2.44
S30F4M 30 4 0.376 Monotonic 1.40 4.22 2.77 4.26
S30F4C 30 4 0.376 Cyclic 1.48 1.61 2.69 5.13
R15F2M 15 2 0.094 Monotonic 1.29 1.69 2.42 3.10
R15F2C 15 2 0.094 Cyclic 1.14 2.27 2.54 2.99
R15F4M 15 4 0.188 Monotonic 1.39 2.25 2.17 2.94
R15F4C 15 4 0.188 Cyclic 1.40 2.00 2.00 2.35
R30F2M 30 2 0.094 Monotonic 1.26 2.04 2.55 3.31
R30F2C 30 2 0.094 Cyclic 1.34 1.86 2.01 2.58
R30F4M 30 4 0.188 Monotonic 1.45 1.92 2.96 4.40
R30F4C 30 4 0.188 Cyclic 1.43 2.35 3.08 4.58

identification of each specimen is shown in the first column. In
Table 2 the fiber volumetric ratios qf = 4ntf/dmax are also reported,
where n denotes the number of fiber layers, tf is the nominal thick-
ness of the fiber mesh and dmax is the maximum transverse dimen-
sion of the specimens.
All specimens were loaded up to failure with a rate displace-
ment of 0.5 mm/s. In cyclic test displacement steps offset of
0.2 mm for the unconfined specimens and of 0.5 mm for the con-
fined specimens were fixed.

3.2. Test setup 4. Test results and discussion

The compression tests on all columns were carried out with a
hydraulic press (Zwick/Roell & Toni Technik) with a maximum load
capacity of 4000 kN, which enables tests in controlled displace-
ment mode. The test type and the equipment were regulated by
an electronic control unit, user interface via personal computer
and using the software TestXpertv.7.10. To measure the applied
displacements of the samples a linear voltage displacement trans-
ducer (LVDT) was placed between the press plates. Moreover, elec-
tronic gauges with gauge length 200 mm were installed in the axial
direction at the middle height of each specimen, namely four
gauges in the prismatic column, one on each side of the specimen,
and three equally spaced gauges, 120° apart, in the circular col-
umn. Fig. 3 shows a column during the test. The electronic gauges
provide an accurate evaluation of the strain in the pre-peak zone,
the LVDT average values of the deformation in the post peak
branch, where cracking and concentration of ‘‘plastic’’ deformation
can make the lecture of the gauges unreliable.
4.1. Control specimens (unconfined columns)
The monotonic and cyclic stress–strain curves of the control
specimens (without wrapping) are shown in Fig. 4. The dashed line
curves represent axial strain evaluated as the average value
deduced from the electronic gauges, and the solid line curves the
values derived by means of the displacements recorded by the
LVDT transducer.
The figure plots typical stress–strain curves for unconfined con-
crete specimens under axial compression characterized by an
ascending branch up to the peak and a rapidly descending post-
peak branch until collapse (brittle failure). The comparison
between monotonic and cyclic testing confirms that the envelope
curve, representing the boundary of the responses in cyclic
compression, is identical to the corresponding stress–strain curve
obtained from a test with monotonically increasing strain [14].
The curves recorded by the electronic gauges are characterized
 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389
20
Circular CF0M-a (gauges mean)
CF0M-b (gauges mean)
15
Axial Stress [MPa]
10
0
0 0.002 0.004
Fig. 4. Axial stress–strain curves of unconfined columns (control specimens).
by greater stiffness than those recorded by the LVDT. It has to be
remarked that the curves of the displacements recorded by the
electronic gauges are interrupted at the maximum stress, because
of the loss of accuracy in the post-peak branch due to the local
damage occurring in the specimen. Therefore, in the following
sections only the displacements recorded by the LVDT transducer
are shown.
In Table 1 the characteristic response parameters are reported,
namely: – the stress and strain values at the peak stress fco, and eco;
– the ultimate values corresponding to failure fuo, and euo, (the con-
ventional ultimate strain was fixed as the strain value at 80% of the
maximum stress); – the energy absorption capacity, measured for
all specimens as the total area under the r–e curve up to failure. It
can be observed that none of these values are significantly affected
by the geometrical test variables (shape of cross-section and corner
radius in the prismatic sections); the mean value of unconfined
concrete strength was 15.92 N/mm2, slightly lower than the value
of 16.66 N/mm2 obtained by the small cylinders used for mechan-
ical characterization of the material.
4.2. Confined columns: effect of cyclic loading
The monotonic and cyclic stress–strain curves of specimens
with circular, square and rectangular cross-sections are shown in
383
Fig. 3. Tested specimen and details of equipment.
Square Rectangular
S15F0M (gauges mean) R15F0M (gauges mean)
S15F0M (LVDT) R15F0M (LVDT)
S30F0C (LVDT) R30F0C (LVDT)
CF0M-a (LVDT)
CF0M-b (LVDT)
CF0C (LVDT)
0.006 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008
Strain
Figs. 5–7 respectively. The axial stress was calculated by the ratio
of the axial load to the concrete cross-section area, i.e. neglecting
the area increment due to mortar.
Apart from column S15F4M, which in the post-peak branch
showed abnormal behavior (probably due to ineffective position-
ing of the confining jacketing), in general in CFRCM confined
columns there is no experimental evidence of strength degradation
due to cyclic loads up to the peak stress.
The results are consistent with previous studies [15–18], which
verified that in FRP confined columns the monotonic stress–strain
curve can be considered as the upper boundary of the response of
any different cyclic stress–strain curve in the entire deformation
range. A recent study [19] indicated that these observations are
also valid regardless of cross-section aspect ratio, concrete strength
and confinement level.
The results of the present tests clarify that in the case of CFRCM
confined columns too, the monotonic stress–strain curve is tangent
to the upper boundary of the cyclic stress–strain curve and the
hypothesis that the cyclic envelope curve is coincident with the
monotonic curve is valid for all specimens up to the peak stress.
However, it is noteworthy that in all the previously mentioned pa-
pers the FRP confinement was efficient enough to ensure a harden-
ing behavior up to rupture. This was not observed in many of the
tested specimens, and in some of them (CF2C, CF3Ca, S15F2C,
384 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389

25 25
CF2C CF3C-a
R15F2C R15F4C
CF2M-a CF3M-a
R15F2M R15F4M
20 20

Axial Stress [MPa]

Axial Stress [MPa]

15 15

10 10

5 5

0 0
0 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016 R30F2C R30F4C

Strain R30F2M R30F4M

20

Axial Stress [MPa]

Fig. 5. Monotonic and cyclic axial stress–strain curves for circular columns.

15

25
S15F2C S15F4C 10
S15F2M S15F4M
20
5
Axial Stress [MPa]

15
0
0 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016
10 Strain

Fig. 7. Monotonic and cyclic axial stress–strain curves for rectangular columns.
5

(point A), ere and fre the axial strain and corresponding stress at the
0
S30F2C S30F4C
beginning of the reloading (point b), fnew is the stress in the reload-
S30F2M S30F4M ing branch at the deformation value eun,env (point c) where the
20 unloading started, eret,env and fret,env the strain and corresponding
stress at the return on the envelope curve (point d), and epl the
Axial Stress [MPa]

15
residual plastic strain at complete unloading (f = 0).
Fig. 9a and b shows the correlation between the strain eun,env
where the unloading path starts and b1, for specimens with
10 medium and high lateral confinement pressure respectively. These
figures show that for small envelope unloading strains
5 (eun,env < 0.001), bi is almost equal to 1, and the strength degrada-
tion is negligible. As emax,i increase, bi tends to decreases and
reaches a constant value of about 0.93 for both specimens with
0 medium and high lateral confinement pressure.
0 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016
Strain Thus it can be concluded that the stress deterioration is inde-
pendent of the confinement parameters that were assumed as test
Fig. 6. Monotonic and cyclic axial stress–strain curves for square columns. variables in the present study.
The result is consistent with the ratio proposed in [20], where
R30F2C) the cyclic response in the post-peak deformation range
for FRP-confined concrete cylinders and strain eun P 0.0035 was
was below the monotonic curve, perhaps due to extensive cracking
found a value of 0.92 for a stress deterioration ratio, and with
of the confining mortar.
the value of 0.90 suggested in [16,19].
In order to investigate this result in more detail, stress deterio-
ration, plastic strains and loss of tangent stiffness under unloading/
4.2.2. Plastic strains
reloading cycles was also evaluated for all specimens tested in the
In Fig. 10a and b the curves of the plastic strains epl versus enve-
present study.
lope unloading strains are shown for columns with medium and
high lateral confinement pressure respectively. The values of epl
4.2.1. Effect of cyclic loading on stress deterioration were not directly recorded, since the reloading started at a stress
In order to evaluate the degree of stress deterioration for each value corresponding to an axial force of 25 kN approximately. Thus
cycle, similarly to what was done in [16,17,19,20] a stress deterio- the plastic strain was estimated from the experimental stress–
ration ratio b1 was defined as follows: strain curve by extending the unloading path smoothly to the zero
stress point according to the following approximate simple rela-
fnew
b1 ¼ ð1Þ tion [15]
fun;env

where referring to the symbols in Fig. 8, eun,env and fun,env are the ax- fre
epl ¼ ere 
ial strain and the corresponding axial stress at the unloading point Esec 0
 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389 385

(a) (b)

Fig. 8. Key parameters for evaluation of stress deterioration and stiffness loss under unloading/reloading cycles: (a) hardening branch; and (b) softening branch.

CF2C CF3C-a
1.1 1.1 CF3C-b
S15F2C
S30F2C S15F4C
R15F2C S30F4C
1 R30F2C 1 R15F4C
R30F4C
β1

β1
0.9 0.9

(a) (b)
0.8 0.8

0 0.0035 0.007 0.0105 0.014 0 0.0035 0.007 0.0105 0.014

ε un,env ε un,env

Fig. 9. Stress deterioration under unloading/reloading cycles: (a) columns with medium lateral confinement pressure; and (b) columns with high lateral confinement
pressure.

where Esec 0 is the secant elasticity modulus of the unconfined con-
crete (Esec 0 = fc0/ec0). The figures show that the plastic strain versus
envelope unloading strain law are almost independent of the level
of confinement [21]; this is consistent with the assumption in
[17,20] though the former suggested that the plastic strain is inde-
pendent of the unconfined concrete strength, while by contrast the
latter shows that a strong dependence exists.
4.2.3. Effect of cyclic loading on stiffness loss
In the cyclic axial stress–strain curves, the loss of stiffness in the
reloading branch can be evaluated by the slope decrease of the
straight line b-c in Fig. 8a and b. For this purpose, the stiffness of
the reloading branch D[eun,env] at the unloading strain eun,env,
characterizing the generic i-th cycle of reloading was defined as
follows:
fnew  frel
D½eun;env  ¼ ð2Þ
eun;env  erel
Fig. 11 shows the stiffness loss during the cyclic test, normal-
ized with respect to the initial secant value D1 = D[e = 0.0005], for
columns CF2C, S15F2C, R30F2C and CF3C-a, S30F4C, R15F4C. The
specimens were chosen so as to consider different cross-sections,
different levels of lateral confinement and different corner radiuses
in the prismatic sections.
This figure shows that for small strains (e 6 0.001), the ratios Di/
D1 are equal to 1, and there is no stiffness loss. As e increases, the
initially constant stiffness decreases as the test progresses and the
rate of decrease is greater in the initial branch. However, it can be
observed that, according to Eqs. (1) and (2) fnew = b1 fun,env, and
(eun,env–ere) = eun,env–(epl + fre/Esec,0); since fre = 25 kN and b1 tends
to the constant value 0.93, the stiffness decay for a given value of

0.014 0.014
CF2C R30F4C
S15F2C CF3C-a
0.0105 S30F2C 0.0105 CF3C-b
R15F2C S15F4C
R30F2C S30F4C
ε pl
ε pl

0.007 0.007 R15F4C

0.0035 0.0035

(a) (b)
0 0
0 0.0035 0.007 0.0105 0.014 0 0.0035 0.007 0.0105 0.014
ε un εun

Fig. 10. Plastic strains versus envelope unloading strains: (a) columns with medium lateral confinement pressure; and (b) columns with high lateral confinement pressure.
386 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389

propagates rather slowly in the neighboring bundles, resulting in

CF3C-a
a more ductile failure mechanism compared with FRP. This phe-
CF2C
1.25 nomenon is due to the fact that the fiber mesh in the inorganic ma-
S30F4C
S15F2C trix is usually not well impregnated, and loading of the fibers is
1 R15F4C done with non-uniform distribution of forces, leading to so-called
R30F2C ‘‘telescopic failure’’ [5]. Furthermore, multiple cracking in the ma-
Di/D1

0.75 trix of CFRCM jackets at low tensile stress levels leads to pullout
failure at higher stress levels, rather than sudden fracture of the
0.5 fibers.

0.25 4.4. Effect of the cross-section shape

0 0.0035 0.007 0.0105 0.014

ε mum for columns with circular cross-sections (radial symmetry)
Fig. 11. Loss of stiffness at reloading branches.
the unloading strain eun,env depends on the fun,env value, i.e. on the
efficiency of the confinement system.
4.3. Effectiveness of CFRCM jacket
In Fig. 12 only the stress–strain curves obtained in tests with
monotonically increasing strains are shown and in Table 2, the
peak and ultimate stress and strain, and absorbed energy values
normalized to the unconfined ones are presented. They prove that
confinement with CFRCM jackets can enhance the performance of
unconfined columns with a substantial gain in strength, ductility
and energy absorption capacity.
All the stress–strain curves in Fig. 12 exhibit an ascending
branch, which almost coincides with that for unconfined columns,
followed by a second one, close to linear, up the formation of the
first cracks; then the specimens exhibit marked nonlinear behavior
with a shape depending on the effectiveness of the confining sys-
tem. It should be noted that for some specimens, e.g. for CF3M-a,
a plateau in the stress–strain behavior is exhibited for stress values
slightly higher than those of the maximum stress of the unconfined
concrete, which highlights the need for a phenomenon of dilatancy
to be activated before the jacketing confining action is effectively
activated.
Another important aspect of the response is that, contrary to
FRP jackets, CFRCM jackets did not fail abruptly. As also reported
in [4,5], in the case of inorganic matrix composite jackets, fracture
initiates from a limited number of fiber bundles and then
As is well known, the effectiveness of the FRP jacket is maxi-
for which the confining pressure is uniform in the plane of the sec-
tion, decreases for columns with square cross-sections due to con-
centration of confinement action at the corners, and is reduced for
columns with rectangular cross-sections, the more so the larger the
ratio depth/width of the cross-section.
The observation that can be deduced from Figs. 11–13 and from
the key results of the tests reported in Table 2 shows that for
CFRCM jackets these phenomena are also present, but are charac-
terized by reduced amplitude when compared with FRP jackets.
Comparing the peak stress (Fig. 13) it can be recognized that
jacketing effectiveness in strength enhancement is similar in
circular and square columns, while lower efficiency is exhibited
by rectangular columns with a large number of textile layers.
Moreover, circular columns also exhibit, both for qf = 0.188 and
for qf = 0.282, hardening behavior up to failure, revealed by a sharp
corner followed by a falling branch with high slope.
The stress–strain curves of square specimens are characterized
by a flat branch after the peak stress, having amplitude depending
on the number of layers of textile, followed by a steep descending
branch; specimen S15F4M, as already mentioned in the previous
section, has a distinct softening branch probably due to the ineffec-
tive positioning of the jacketing.
Lastly, in rectangular specimens, although the jacketing is able
to produce a significant increment in maximum stress, the post-
peak behavior is always characterized by a softening branch with
a gentle slope, and the ultimate condition defined by a reduction
in stress at 80% of the peak stress is always reached for a large
strain value.
All these different shapes of stress–strain relationship can be
reproduced analytically by the modified Sargin’s model proposed
in [22].

25
Circular Square S15F0M Rectangular R15F0M
S15F2M R15F2M
S30F2M R30F2M
20
S15F4M R15F4M
S30F4M R30F4M
Axial Stress [MPa]

15

10 CF0M-a
CF0M-b
CF2M-a

5 CF2M-b
CF3M-a
CF3M-b

0
0 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016 0 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016 0 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016
Strain

Fig. 12. Monotonic axial stress–strain curves.

 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389 387

28
Circular Square Rectangular
23.00 23.00 22.96
22.15 22.00
20.70
21
19.00 18 ,72 18.57 19.00
16.48
16.00 15.90

fcc [MPa]
14.99
14.62
14

0
CF0 mean

CF2 mean

CF3 mean

R30F0C
S15F0M

R15F0M
S30F0C

R15F2 mean

R15F4 mean

R30F2 mean

R30F4 mean
S15F2 mean

S15F4 mean

S30F4 mean
S30F2 mean
Fig. 13. Effectiveness of CFRCM jacket on the peak stress.

0,3
Circular Square Rectangular

0.225 0.221
0.206 0.197
0,2
E [MJ/m3]

0.166

0.134 0.129
0.116
0.107 0.109
0,1

0.050 0.046
0.044
0.035 0.030

0
CF0 mean

CF2 mean

CF3 mean

R15F4 mean

R30F2 mean

R30F4 mean
S15F4 mean

S30F2 mean

S30F4 mean
S15F2 mean

R30F0C
S30F0C

R15F0M
S15F0M

R15F2 mean

Fig. 14. Effectiveness of CFRCM jacket on the energy absorption capacity.

Comparing the ultimate strain, it can be recognized that the increasing the maximum stress, though the larger the number of
increment in deformation capacity is always large in circular textile layers is, the less the increment in strength is. Referring to
columns (ecu/euo ranging from 2.79 to 4.40), and smaller in square the ultimate strain, the increment in circular columns is negligible,
(2.03 6 ecu/euo 6 2.77) and rectangular columns (2.00 6 ecu/euo while in square and rectangular columns it is considerable.
6 3.08), though the latter two series have a greater maximum Consequently, also taking into account the previous consider-
number of layers of textile (#4) than circular ones (#3). ation on the shape of the stress–strain curve, for circular columns
Thus, the energy absorption capacity E of confined specimens is the increases in absorbed energy is negligible, while for square and
always much larger than that of the unconfined specimen E0 rectangular columns the ultimate absorbed energy increases 70%
(4.10 6 E/E0 6 5.88) as shown in Fig. 14, while in square and rect- and 20% when four instead of two layers of textile respectively
angular columns the increment is smaller, 2.23 6 E/E0 6 4.31, and are used (Fig. 14).
2.35 6 E/E0 6 4.58 respectively, and directly related to the number
of confining textile layers and the corner radius dimensions.
4.6. Effect of corner radius in prismatic sections

4.5. Effect of the number of CFRCM layers In FRP confined square and rectangular columns, the corner ra-
dius significantly affects the performance and efficiency of the FRP
It should be emphasized that the strength increase in series C, S jacket. The tests that have been reported in the literature [23,24]
and R having the two fiber layers is roughly the same (see Fig. 13), have established that the increase in deformation capacity and
although the parameter qf for the rectangular section is half that confined concrete strength is proportional to the corner radius
for circular and square sections. By contrast, when the number of value.
fiber layers is increased, in order to obtain the same strength incre- In CFRCM confined prismatic columns, the inorganic matrix en-
ment as obtained in circular columns with three layers of textile sures stress smearing action at the corners; therefore the Authors
(16%), in both square and rectangular ones four layers of textile believe that the values of the corner radius have less influence
are necessary. However, it is possible to conclude that the increase on the failure mode of the columns and on confined concrete
in the number of CFRCM layers is in general quite effective in strength than in CFRP confined elements.
388
Stiffness/Initial Stiffness
1.25
1 2
Stress/Peak Stress
1
0.75
0.5
0.25
0 0.004
Fig. 15. Stress–strain and stiffness–strain curves for circular, square and rectangular columns.
Fig. 16. Failure mode for columns with cross section: (a) circular; (b) square; (c) rectangular. (d) Tensile fracture of the carbon fiber mesh at the corner.
Only for the rectangular columns (series R) with four CFRCM
layers was recorded a significant improvement of the ultimate
strain and the absorbed energy, 70% and 45% respectively, with
an increase in the corner radius (comparison between R15F4#
and R30F4#). For square columns (series S) with four CFRCM lay-
ers, there was an increment in ultimate strain only (comparison
between S15F4# and S30F4#).
However, due to the limited number of specimens tested,
further experimental investigations of the effect of corner radius
for a wider range of geometric and material parameters are
required to confirm these conclusions.
4.7. Failure mode and crack patterns
In order to describe and discuss the main damage patterns and
the failure mechanisms for CFRCM confined columns, in Fig. 15 a
comparison is shown between the stress–strain curve, normalized
with respect to the peak value, and the corresponding decay in the
normalized secant stiffness–strain curves for some specimens
tested. Only one specimen for each type of cross-section was con-
sidered, because all CFRCM confined specimens always collapsed
by rupture of the jacket and because there was no apparent differ-
ence between the failure modes of the columns with medium or
high lateral confinement pressure.
In the figure, three distinct regions can be recognized. At the
early stages of loading (region 1), the stress–strain curves are char-
acterized by a linear ascending branch and the secant stiffness–
strain curves are characterized by a constant branch. This state cor-
responds to the condition in which the concrete core and CFRCM
jacket form a single resistant system.
P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389
Circular Square Rectangular
3 1 2 3 1 2 3
0.008 0.012 0.016 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.016
Strain
A transition zone follows in region 2, characterized by nonlinear
ascending stress–strain curves and stiffness decreases. In this re-
gion the cracked concrete core fully interacted with the elastic
CFRCM jacket with a redistribution of internal forces across the
mortar. At peak load, due to expansion of the concrete core, multi-
ple sub-vertical cracking in the CFRCM jacket occurred. It is ob-
served that the rupture of CFRCM jacket was always preceded by
the sound of carbon fiber bursting. In all the cases region 2 had
large extensions since the damage process grew slowly.
In region 3, beginning at the point where the slope of the stress–
strain curves and of the stiffness–strain curves dropped suddenly,
the failure mechanism was activated. Failure occurred when the
CFRCM jacket could not restrain the unstable expansion of the con-
crete core. In all cases the failure mechanism was due to jacket col-
lapse at the corner (Fig. 16).
Moreover, it is observed that, as also reported in Trapko (2013),
under failure load the concrete core of the specimens was crushed;
the higher the number of CFRCM layers, the more the core of con-
crete disintegrated.
Finally it has been emphasized that, even if nowadays an over-
lapping length longer than that used in the specimens (100 mm) is
advised by the manufacturer, during the tests the rupture occurred
outside the overlapping zone for all the tested specimens.
5. Conclusions
Experimental tests were performed to investigate the effects of
confinement level, cross-section shape and corner radius on the
monotonic and cyclic behavior of concrete columns wrapped with
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (CFRCM). The results
prove that:
 P. Colajanni et al. / Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014) 379–389
(a) The stress–strain curve of CFRCM confined concrete columns
under monotonic loading is always the same as the envelope
curve of the cyclic stress–strain curve in the pre-peak
branch; in the post-peak range when softening behavior is
exhibited, the curve for the cyclic load is somewhat lower
than the monotonic one.
(b) The strength degradation for small strains is negligible. As
emax,i increases (emax,i P 0.0035), strength degradation tends
to increase and reaches a constant value of about 0.93 for
both specimens with medium and high lateral confinement
pressure.
(c) The loss of stiffness for small strains (e < 0.001) is negligible.
As the strain increases, the stiffness for columns subject to
monotonic and cyclic loading decreases, depending on the
efficiency of the confinement system.
(d) CFRCM confining jackets provide substantial gain in com-
pressive strength, deformability and absorbed energy. An
increase in the number of CFRCM layers is in general quite
effective in increasing the maximum stress and less effective
in increasing ultimate deformation and energy absorption
capacity.
(e) The investigations conducted on the effect of the cross-sec-
tion shape confirmed that the greater jacketing effectiveness
is obtained, as expected, for circular columns. However, it is
also to be noted that in rectangular columns with a ratio
depth/width of the cross-section equal to 2, the loss of jac-
keting effectiveness with respect to square columns is not
large.
(f) The effect of the corner radius in prismatic sections had a
smaller influence on the performance of CFRCM confined
columns compared to FRP confined columns, probably due
to stress smearing action at the corners. However, for series
R columns, the corner radius had a non-negligible influence
on ultimate strain value, and consequently, on the absorbed
energy capacity.
(g) Failure of CFRCM confined columns, for both monotonic and
cyclic loads, is less abrupt compared with that of FRP con-
fined columns due to the slowly progressing fracture of indi-
vidual fiber bundles.
Acknowledgements
This work has been carried out within the 2010–2013 Research
Project ‘‘DPC-ReLUIS (Dipartimento Protezione Civile – Rete dei
Laboratori Universitari di Ingegneria Sismica)’’, AT 1, Task 1.1.2.
The related financial support was greatly appreciated. The Author
thanks Dott. G. Mantegazza, Technical Director of Ruredil S.P.A.,
for providing the materials for the experimental program.
389
References
[1] Campione G, Colajanni P, La Mendola L, Spinella N. Ductility of R.C. members
externally wrapped with frp sheets. J Comp Constr ASCE 2007;11:279–90.
[2] Kurtz S, Balagru P. Comparison of inorganic and organic matrices for
strengthening of RC beams with carbon sheets. J Struct Eng, ASCE
2001;127:35–42.
[3] Wu HC, Teng J. Concrete confined with fiber reinforced cement based thin
sheet composites. In: Tan KH, editor. FRPRCS-6 Fiber Reinforced Polymer
reinforcement for concrete structuree, vol. 1. World Scientific Publishing Co.;
2003. p. 591–600.
[4] Triantafillou TC, Papanicolaou CG, Panagiotis Zissimopoulos P, Laourdekis T.
Concrete confinement with textile-reinforced mortar jackets. ACI Struct J
2006;103:28–37.
[5] Bournas DA, Lontou PV, Papanicolaou CG, Triantafillou TC. Textile-reinforced
mortar versus fiber-reinforced polymer confinement in reinforced concrete
columns. ACI Struct J 2007;104:740–8.
[6] Ombres L. Confinement effectiveness in concrete strengthened with fiber
reinforced cement based composite jackets. FRPCS-8. Patras, Greece; 2007.
[7] De Caso y Basalo FJ, Matta F, Nanni A. Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix
composites for infrastructure rehabilitation. Proc Compos Poly (Tampa, FL,
USA) 2009.
[8] Colajanni P, De Domenico F, Maugeri N, Recupero A, Spinella N, Mantegazza G.
Experimental results of RC columns strengthened with fiber reinforced
cementitious mortars. In: 3rd International conference on concrete repair,
rehabilitation and retrofitting (Cape Town, South Africa); 2012.
[9] Colajanni P, De Domenico F, Recupero A, Spinella A. Concrete columns confined
with fiber reinforced cementitious mortars: experimentation and modelling.
Construction and Building Materials 2014;52:375–84.
[10] Colajanni P, Di Trapani F, Fossetti M, Macaluso G, Papia M. Cyclic axial testing
of columns confined with fiber reinforced cementitiuos matrix. In:
Proceedings of the 6-th international conference on FRP composites in civil
engineering (Roma, Italy); 2012.
[11] Trapko T. Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix confined concrete elements.
Mater Des 2013;44:382–91.
[12] Gardiner T, Currie B. Flexural behavior of composite cement sheets using
wowen polypropylene mesh fabric. Int J Cem Compos Lightweight Concr
1983;5:193–7.
[13] Curbach M, Jesse F. High performance textile-reinforced concrete. Struct Eng
Int, IABSE 1999;4:289–91.
[14] Karsan ID, Jirsa JO. Behavior of concrete under compressive loadings. J Struct
Eng ASCE 95(ST12):2543–63.
[15] Lam L, Teng JG, Cheung CH, Xiao Y. FRP-confined concrete under axial cyclic
compression. Cem Concr Compos 2006;28:949–58.
[16] Shao Y, Zhu Z, Mirmiran A. Cyclic modelling of FRP-confined concrete with
improved ductility. Cem Concr Comp 2006;28:959–68.
[17] Sakai J, Kawashima K. Unloading and reloading stress–strain model for
confined concrete. J Struct Eng ASCE 2006;132:112–22.
[18] Abbasnia R, Ziaadiny H. Behavior of concrete prisms confined with FRP
composites under axial cyclic compression. Eng Struct 2010;32:648–55.
[19] Abbasnia R, Ahmadi R, Ziaadiny H. Effect of confinement level, aspect ratio and
concrete strength on the cyclic stress–strain behavior of FRP-confined
concrete prisms. Composites B 2012;43:825–31.
[20] Lam L, Teng JG. Stress–strain model for FRP-confined concrete under cyclic
axial compression. Eng Struct 2009;31:308–21.
[21] Buyukozturk O, Tseng TM. Concrete in biaxial cyclic compression. J Struct Eng
ASCE 1984;110(3):461–76.
[22] Colajanni P, Papia M, Spinella N. A stress–strain law for confined concrete with
hardening or softening behavior. Adv Civ Eng 2013;804904.
[23] Wang ML, Wu YF. Effect of corner radius on the performance of CFRP-confined
square concrete columns: test. Eng Struct 2008;30:493–505.
[24] Wu YF, Wei YY. Effect of cross-sectional aspect ratio on the strength of CFRP-
confined rectangular concrete columns. Eng Struct 2010;32:32–45.