Behavior of FRP-Strengthened

Reinforced Concrete Columns Under

Pure Compression—Experimental
and Numerical Studies

M. Chellapandian and S. Suriya Prakash

Abstract Hybrid strengthening of columns is explored in this study using both

near-surface mounting (NSM) of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates
and external bonding (EB) of CFRP fabric. A total of ten small-scale square col-
umns were cast and tested to investigate the efficiency of hybrid strengthening of
RC columns under pure compression. A nonlinear finite element model was pro-
posed to investigate the behavior of columns with and without FRP strengthening.
The experimental results are compared with the finite element predictions to vali-
date the proposed model and the predicted response. Comparisons showed close
correlation with the observed behavior. The results indicate the hybrid strength-
ening was able to increase both the strength and stiffness of columns compared to
that of only NSM and CFRP confined columns.

Keywords CFRP Near-surface mounting
External bonding


RC column Hybrid strengthening

1 Introduction

Strengthening of reinforced concrete structures using fiber-reinforced polymer

(FRP) composites has gained relevance in recent years due to the problems
encountered in conventional strengthening techniques. Strengthening of structures
using steel jacketing technique has been used in the past decades to provide good
confinement effect but at a cost of increased weight and handling difficulties. FRP
composites consist of fibers used as reinforcing elements and the polymer matrix
used for transferring the load between the concrete and fiber interface. FRP

M. Chellapandian
S. Suriya Prakash (&)

Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology,
Hyderabad 502285, India
e-mail: suriyap@iith.ac.in
M. Chellapandian
e-mail: ce15resch11005@iith.ac.in

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 663

A. Rama Mohan Rao and K. Ramanjaneyulu (eds.), Recent Advances in Structural
Engineering, Volume 2, Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 12,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0365-4_56
664 M. Chellapandian and S. Suriya Prakash

composites possess many advantages like lightweight, ease of installation, resis-

tance to corrosion, and high strength. Concrete columns are predominantly sub-
jected to pure compression loading resulting in brittle material failure by crushing
of concrete. FRP strengthening of columns can provide passive confinement for
improving the strength, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity of the columns.
Parvin and Brighton [1] investigated the corrosion repair of concrete columns using
FRP and concluded that FRP strengthening not only improves the strength and
ductility but also reduces the rate of corrosion significantly.

2 FRP Strengthening Technique

In general, the type of strengthening technique will be chosen based on the extent of
damage or retrofit required for the particular member or the additional load-carrying
capacity required by the structure to account for the increased demand in loads.
Near-surface mounting (NSM) technique is used to retrofit the deficit structures that
are predominantly subjected to shear and flexure. Olivova and Bilcik [2] carried out
experimental study on concrete columns strengthened using carbon FRP laminates
and concluded that NSM technique is effective only if the member is subjected to
bending. NSM technique is also mainly used for strengthening the members that are
prone to fire conditions. External bonding of FRP fabric is the most common
method of strengthening the concrete members subjected to axial load. Confining
effect in columns using FRP fabric is reduced due to premature de-bonding [2]. In
this study, combining the advantage of both NSM and EB techniques, hybrid
strengthening technique is proposed where the carbon laminates help in improving
post-peak behavior and energy dissipation capacity of columns, whereas the carbon
fabric helps in improving the confinement effect and delays the buckling of rein-
forcement and laminates. As a result, the column possesses higher load capacity
that is required to overcome the additional requirement.

3 Experimental Investigation

3.1 Specification of Test Specimen

Ten small-scale square columns of cross section as shown in Fig. 1 were cast to
experimentally investigate the behavior of columns with different strengthening
techniques such as near-surface mounting, external bonding, and hybrid strength-
ening. The dimensions of the column were 230 mm  230 mm  450 mm. The
columns were tested under pure axial compression loading. The details of the
specimen are given in Table 1.
Behavior of FRP-Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Columns … 665

Fig. 1 Cross-sectional details of column

Table 1 Details of test specimen and strengthening technique

S. No. Specimen ID Loading Strengthening details Concrete
type strength
(MPa)
1. SQ-PCC Pure No strengthening 34
compression
2. SQ-CP Pure No strengthening 34
compression
3. SQ-NSM Pure 8 CFRP laminates 34
compression (12.5 mm  4.2 mm)
4. SQ-EB Pure 2 layers of CFRP fabric 34
compression (500 mm  0.2 mm)
5. SQ-HYBRID Pure 8 CFRP laminates + 2 34
compression layers of fabric

3.2 Material Properties

3.2.1 Concrete

Columns were cast in IIT Hyderabad and water cured for 28 days. The average
cylinder compressive strength of the column was found to be 34 MPa.

3.2.2 CFRP Laminates

Laminates used in NSM strengthening were obtained from pultrusion process

wherein carbon is used as the fiber material. The dimensions of laminates are
50 mm  4.2 mm. Coupon test was carried out to determine the tensile strength of
the laminate and was found to be 2300 MPa. The modulus of elasticity and rupture
strain were 150 GPa and 1.3%, respectively.
666 M. Chellapandian and S. Suriya Prakash

3.2.3 CFRP Fabric

A 500 mm  0.2 mm CFRP fabric of 230 GSM was used. The modulus of elas-
ticity of the fabric was found to be 81.3 GPa with the rupture strain of about 1.4%.

3.3 Strengthening Procedure

3.3.1 NSM Strengthening

NSM strengthening was carried out as per the ACI 440.2R provisions [3]. A groove
was cut in columns with dimensions not lesser than 1.5 times the dimension of the
laminates. The groove is cleaned and applied with primer to remove the dust and to
provide a good bond between the concrete and the laminate. After 24 h, the lam-
inates are placed in the groove and epoxy resin was filled in the groove. After a
curing period of 48 h, the columns were tested. The detailed procedure of NSM
strengthening is shown in Fig. 2a–d.

3.3.2 Strengthening by External-Bonded FRP

The corners of the square columns are ground in order to provide a smooth contact
surface and prevent any edge de-bonding of FRP. The surface of the specimen is

a. Cutting of Groove b. Application of Primer c. Pasting Strain Gauge d. Inserting Laminates

e. Grinding of Corners f. Application of Primer g. Pasting CFRP h. Rolling on Surface

Fig. 2 a–h Strengthening of columns by hybrid strengthening technique

Behavior of FRP-Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Columns … 667

cleaned and applied with primer. After 24 h, epoxy resin is applied and CFRP
fabric is pasted over the specimen. Minimum overlap is ensured as per ACI 440
provisions [3]. The column surface pasted with CFRP is rolled over with the help of
a hand roller to expel the air bubbles. After a curing period of 48 h for the FRP to
gain sufficient bond, the columns were tested. The detailed procedure of
strengthening by external-bonded FRP is given in Fig. 2e–h.

3.3.3 Hybrid Strengthening Technique

A hybrid combination of NSM and externally bonded was used for strengthening to
prevent the buckling of NSM CFRP laminates under compression. The objective of
the hybrid strengthening was to gain increased strength stiffness and ductility. The
detailed procedure is explained in Fig. 2. Previous research on NSM and hybrid
FRP strengthened RC elements shows the effectiveness under all combinations of
axial compression and flexure [4–8].

3.4 Experimental Testing

The experimental setup for testing strengthened RC square RC columns under

pure compression is shown in Fig. 3. The concrete column is tested under
displacement-controlled mode using a servo-controlled compression testing
machine (CTM) of 5000 kN capacity. The bottom plate ensures fixity of the col-
umn, while the top plate applies uniform compression on the column. The surface
undulations are removed by loading and unloading the specimen for 15% of its
peak load up to three cycles. Once the initial undulations are removed, the testing is
started again in displacement-controlled mode. An average displacement from two

Fig. 3 Experimental setup.

1. 5000 kN CTM, 2. RC
column, 3. controls console,
4. HBM DAQ controller,
5. DAQ system
668 M. Chellapandian and S. Suriya Prakash

10 mm LVDTs was used for displacement-controlled testing. Once the displace-

ment exceeds more than 9 mm, the controls are shifted to 50 mm LVDT. Four
20-mm LVDTs are attached to the surface of the column to measure the defor-
mation of the column. The gauge length is fixed as 180 mm for measuring the
surface strain in concrete. MX-1615 data acquisition system (DAQ) is used to
measure the strains from the strain gauges (120 X) connected to the steel rein-
forcements and FRP. Four strain gauges are connected to the steel reinforcements
(two in longitudinal and transverse reinforcements), and two strain gauges are
connected to both CFRP laminates and CFRP fabric.

4 Results and Discussion

4.1 Experimental Results

Experimental results of strengthening techniques were compared in Table 2. To

understand the efficiency of each technique under pure compression, the ultimate
load is considered as the load at which the drop in the peak load exceeds more than
40% and the same is considered as failure.

4.1.1 Behavior and Failure Mechanisms

The overall behavior of columns under axial compression is depicted in Fig. 4. It is

clear that hybrid FRP strengthening was able to improve the strength and ductility
of columns when compared to only NSM or EB strengthening. The plain concrete
specimen (SQ-PCC) had an initial crack at a load of 1336 kN after which there is a
change in the slope of curve. The column attained peak load at a displacement of
0.26 mm. The failure occurred due to formation of large compression crack at the
center with few small cracks nearby. For the columns with conventional rein-
forcements (SQ-CP), the load corresponding to spalling of concrete cover was
about 1650 kN and peak displacement of 0.39 mm.

Table 2 Test results of strengthened RC columns

S. No. Specimen ID Experimental results Numerical results
Peak Failure Peak Ultimate Peak Ultimate
load load disp. (mm) disp. (mm) load disp. (mm)
(kN) (kN) (kN)
1. SQ-PCC 1764 1099 0.27 0.72 1913 0.35
2. SQ-CP 2148 1372 0.39 1.37 2291 0.92
3. SQ-NSM 2319 1443 0.45 1.92 2202 1.90
4. SQ-EB 2357 1562 0.49 1.95 2635 2.18
5. SQ-HYBRID 2590 1630 0.44 2.11 2751 2.25
Behavior of FRP-Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Columns … 669

The column strengthened using NSM CFRP laminates had improvement in the
load only up to 8% which is not a significant number, but the mode of failure
changed from brittle to ductile. There was a considerable reduction in the spalling
of concrete cover and compression cracking. There was considerable improvement
in the cracking load of the column about 18% when strengthened using
external-bonded technique of CFRP fabric. The peak load and ultimate
load-carrying capacity of the column was increased by 10 and 42%, respectively.
When the columns are strengthened using hybrid NSM and EB technique, the peak
load had an improvement about 21% when compared to the control specimens. The
specimen failed at an ultimate displacement of 2.11 mm which was improved 54%.
As expected, the buckling of CFRP laminates is prevented in this technique.

4.2 Numerical Modeling

Using commercial finite element software ABAQUS, nonlinear finite element

modeling of concrete is performed using concrete damage plasticity. The procedure
of nonlinear analysis is carried out using dynamic explicit method. In meshing,
three-dimensional eight-noded brick element C3D8R is used for concrete and
two-noded truss element T3D2 is used for reinforcement and laminates.
Three-dimensional four-noded shell element S4R is used to model CFRP fabric.
Reduced integration technique is used to reduce the computational time for the
analysis. Bond definitions are not defined and presented as a part of this study due
to high computational time. However, the improved model including the cohesive
bond slip behavior between CFRP and concrete is defined and a detailed parametric
investigation is carried out in the other paper of authors [9].

4.3 Comparison Graph

Finite Element (FE) predictions are compared with the test results and shown in
Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The FE predictions had a fair correlation with the test results.
The variations in post-peak predictions are due to interaction behaviour of concrete
and FRP/steel. The results presented in this study is a part of preliminary investi-
gation carried out which is improved further with the cohesive bond slip definitions
and presented in the companion paper [9].
670 M. Chellapandian and S. Suriya Prakash

Fig. 4 Behavior of RC Strain

columns under compression 0.0128 0.0064 0 0.0064 0.0128
2800
50

2400

40
2000

Load (kN)

Stress (MPa)
1600 30

1200
PCC-2 PCC-1 20

800 CP-2 CP-1

NSM-2 NSM-1
10
400 EB-2 EB-1
HYBRID-2 HYBRID-1
0 0
2 1 0 1 2
Displacement (mm)

Fig. 5 Comparison for plain Strain

0.000 0.001 0.002 0.003
columns 2000
36

1600 30

Stress (MPa)
24
Load (kN)

1200

FEA - PCC 18
800
EXP - PCC 12

400
6

0 0
0.00 0.15 0.30 0.45 0.60
Displacement (mm)

Fig. 6 Comparison for Strain

unstrengthened RC columns 0.0000 0.0015 0.0030 0.0045 0.0060
2400

40
2000

32
1600
Stress (MPa)
Load (kN)

24
1200

FEA - CP
800 16
EXP - CP

400 8

0 0
0.0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2

Displacement (mm)
Behavior of FRP-Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Columns … 671

Fig. 7 Comparison for Strain

0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010 0.012
NSM-strengthened RC 2800
columns 50

2400

40
2000

Stress (MPa)
Load (kN)
1600 30

1200
20
FEA - NSM
800
EXP - NSM
10
400

0 0
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4

Displacement (mm)

Strain
Fig. 8 Comparison for 0.000 0.003 0.006 0.009 0.012 0.015
3200
EB-strengthened RC columns 56
2800
48
2400

40
2000
Load (kN)

Stress (MPa)
32
1600
FEA - EB
24
1200
EXP - EB
800 16

400 8

0 0
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8
Displacement (mm)

Fig. 9 Comparison for Strain

hybrid-strengthened RC 0.000 0.003 0.006 0.009 0.012 0.015
3200
columns
56
2800

48
2400

40
Stress (MPa)

2000
Load (kN)

32
1600
FEA - HYBRID
24
1200
EXP - HYBRID

800 16

400 8

0 0
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8
Displacement (mm)
672 M. Chellapandian and S. Suriya Prakash

5 Conclusions

This paper presents the effectiveness of hybrid strengthening technique in

improving the performance of reinforced concrete columns under pure compres-
sion. The following important conclusions can be drawn from this study:
• Hybrid FRP strengthening improved strength, ductility, and stiffness of the
columns under compression which is significant from the overall behavior and
failure mode.
• There is considerable increase in the load-carrying capacity of the
hybrid-strengthened column with failure occurring at a higher strain compared
to the conventional RC columns.
• Hybrid-strengthened columns failed by rupture of confinement fibers and
through de-lamination of NSM CFRP along with the concrete cover.
• Nonlinear finite element model was able to predict the initial stiffness, peak load
and failure mechanism of the tested columns with and without FRP strength-
ening. However, improvements required for accurate prediction of post-peak
behavior.

Acknowledgements This research work was carried out under the project funded by Department
of Science and Technology, India. FRP materials were partially donated by R&M International
Ltd. Mumbai. The authors gratefully acknowledge for their generous support.

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