Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials

Eccentric compression behavior of TRC-strengthened concrete columns under chloride environment

Xiang-Qian Hu, Shiping Yin, Heng-Lin Lv,
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Xiang-Qian Hu, Shiping Yin, Heng-Lin Lv, (2018) "Eccentric compression behavior of TRC-strengthened concrete columns
under chloride environment", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, https://doi.org/10.1108/ACMM-06-2018-1949
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 Eccentric compression behavior of TRC-
strengthened concrete columns under
chloride environment
Xiang-Qian Hu, Shiping Yin and Heng-Lin Lv
School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanical behavior of textile-reinforced concrete (TRC)-strengthened concrete columns
with small eccentricity under chloride-wet-dry cycles.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of ten reinforced concrete (RC) columns were constructed and subjected to eccentric compression, and
the effects of the slenderness ratio, a variable number of wet-dry cycles and the coupled effect of loading and a chloride environment were analyzed.
One of the columns tested was unreinforced, whereas the remaining columns were strengthened laterally with TRC.
Findings – The results showed that a reduction in the slenderness ratio was conducive to the improvement of the bearing capacity of the reinforced
column; however, the reinforcement effect of TRC tended to decrease with an increasing number of wet-dry cycles, and the coupled effect of loading
and a chloride environment significantly degraded the compression performance of TRC-strengthened columns, with the damage becoming more
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serious with increase in the sustained load ratio.

Research limitations/implications – In the next test, the duration of chloride-wet-dry cycles will be extended. In the same time, to obtain a clearer
trend, the authors will also increase the number of specimens to obtain more data for drawing general conclusions.
Originality/value – The originality is to explore the feasibility of using cement-based materials (TRC) as a confinement technique in chloride
environment. The investigations demonstrate that TRC has a good reinforcement effect on the concrete columns under chloride-wet-dry cycles.
Finally, influence of each parameter is analyzed, which can be used as reference and foundation in actual application.
Keywords Chloride-wet-dry cycles, Columns with small eccentricity, Compression performance, Textile-reinforced concrete (TRC)
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction has primarily considered RC beams (Al-Salloum et al., 2012;

At present, the destruction of reinforced concrete (RC)
structures resulting from reinforcement corrosion is a major
problem worldwide (Gjørv, 2014). The use of cement-based
materials as a means of repairing materials is an economical and
suitable method to provide corrosion protection for steel bars
(Jesse et al., 2008; Sheng et al., 2017). Different cement-based
strengthening systems for concrete structures have been
proposed; specifically, textile-reinforced concrete (TRC),
textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) and fabric (fiber)-reinforced
cementitious mortar (FRCM) (ACI Committee 549, 2013;
Colajanni et al., 2014a, 2014b) have proven the effectiveness of
the application of cement-based composites for strengthening
concrete structures. These systems are merely variations of the
same core idea, with largely minor differences.
TRC, which is comprised of textile and fine-grain concrete,
has good corrosion resistance, good strain hardening
characteristics, a good crack-limiting effect, and a thin concrete
cover (Xu and Li, 2007; Hegger and Voss, 2008; Sheng et al.,
2017). Recently, the research on TRC-strengthened structures
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
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Yin et al., 2014), slabs (Schladitz et al., 2012), columns
(Triantafillou et al., 2006; Ombres and Verre, 2015; Trapko,
2014a, 2014b) and masonry (Papanicolaou et al., 2007; Harajli
et al., 2010).
A number of studies on TRC-reinforced concrete columns
have been conducted under conventional environments in the
past few decades. Triantafillou et al. (2006) found that the
improvements in the compressive strength and axial
deformability of concrete columns became more obvious with
an increasing number of TRM reinforcement layers. In
addition, the failure of TRM jacketing was less abrupt
compared with that of its resin-impregnated counterparts.
Bournas et al. (2007) showed that TRM could increase the
axially loaded behavior and deformability of a column by
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Fundamental Research Funds for
the Central Universities (2017XKZD09). The experimental work
described in this paper was conducted at the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of
Environmental Impact and Structural Safety in Civil Engineering in the
China University of Mining and Technology. The assistance provided by
the staff and students at the Laboratory during the tests is greatly
appreciated.
Compliance with Ethical Standards: Conflict of interest: The authors declare
that they have no conflict of interest.

Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials Received 6 June 2018

© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0003-5599] Revised 6 June 2018
[DOI 10.1108/ACMM-06-2018-1949] Accepted 18 September 2018
 TRC-strengthened concrete columns
Xiang-Qian Hu et al.
delaying the buckling of the longitudinal reinforcement and
such increases are proportional to the number of textile layers
and not related to the spacing of the stirrups. Peled (2007)
explored the feasibility for using fabric impregnated with a
cement matrix (TRC) to strengthen and repair concrete
columns; the test results proved that TRC could improve the
compressive behavior and elastic modulus of both the
strengthened and repaired cylinders. To investigate
the efficiency of columns strengthened with FRCM under
monotonic uniaxial compression (Colajanni et al., 2014a),
columns with circular and square cross-sections were tested,
and the experimental results indicated that FRCM had
effectively improved the strength and ductility of the concrete
columns. Then, a model for FRCM-confined concrete column
was proposed on the basis of the experimental results. Further,
Colajanni et al. (2014b) conducted a study on the behavior of
FRCM-reinforced low-strength concrete columns under
monotonic and cyclic axial loading; the results indicated that an
increase in the number of textile layers could effectively
increase the strength of the column. Ombres (2014) evaluated
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the effectiveness of FRCM in confining plain concrete elements
under uniaxial compression; a model to predict the axial peak
strength and associated strain of FRCM-confined concrete was
proposed based on the experimental results. In addition,
several studies on eccentric compression columns have
considered the use of cement-based materials as a confinement
technique. Trapko (2014b) analyzed the influence of the initial
eccentricity (0, 16 and 32 mm) on FRCM-strengthened
columns and found that the bearing capacity of the eccentric
compression column decreases with increasing eccentricity; in
contrast, eccentric compression columns strengthened with
longitudinal FRCM showed good ductility and formability.
Ombres and Verre (2015) studied the structural behavior of
eccentrically loaded reinforced concrete columns strengthened
with FRCM and found that compared with the unreinforced
column, the bearing capacity of the confined column is
increased by approximately 20 per cent39 per cent, and the
increase in eccentricity weakens the reinforcement effect of
FRCM.
To date, few studies have focused on TRC-reinforced concrete
columns under erosive environments. Coastal buildings are
exposed to harsh environments of chloride erosion, wet-dry
cycles, stress and environmental coupling corrosion, and the
structural elements (especially columns) could be severely
damaged via the corrosion of steel bars (Gjørv, 2014). Because
the safety and reliability of such building structures will be
reduced, methods of reinforcement and repair are urgently
needed (Brückner et al., 2008; Yin et al., 2017a, 2017b). The
report of (Yin et al., 2017a) indicated that the reinforcing
properties of TRC under chloride-wet-dry cycles are lower
compared with those of RC columns in a conventional
environment. The interfacial properties between the TRC and
concrete decreased slightly because of chloride erosion. Thus, the
bearing capacity and ductility of TRC-strengthened concrete
Table I Mix proportion of fine-grained concrete
Component Portland cement PII 52.5R Fly ash
–3
Material content (kg·m ) 475 168
Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials
columns decreased in that environment. Further, Yin et al.
(2017b) investigated the seismic performance of TRC-
strengthened columns under low cyclic loading with
environmental corrosion. The results showed that TRC reduces
the impact of chloride erosion on steel corrosion and that the
seismic ductility and energy dissipation capacity of RC columns
could be effectively improved by TRC reinforcement.
According to the above analysis, there is a lack of knowledge on
the durability of TRC-strengthened RC columns. Furthermore,
because most concrete columns in actual engineering experience
eccentric loading, further research is required on the
reinforcement of eccentric compression columns using TRC.
Therefore, in this paper, the mechanical properties of TRC-
strengthened columns with small eccentricity under chloride-
wet-dry cycles are investigated. Ten rectangular columns were
tested under monotonic axial loading to study the influence of
the slenderness ratio, a variable number of wet-dry cycles, and
the coupled effect of loading and a chloride environment on the
compression performance of TRC-strengthened columns.
2. Material properties
2.1 Concrete and fine-grained concrete
The strength grade of concrete used in the specimens was C40,
and the mix proportions of ordinary Portland cement, water,
sand, water reducer were 415:161:643:1181:2.85 by weight.
The compressive strength of a standard test block with
dimensions of 150  150  150 was measured to be 45.5 MPa
after 28 days of curing.
The mix proportion for fine-grained concrete was based on a
reference in the literature (Yin et al., 2017b), as shown in
Table I. The compressive strength on cubes with dimensions of
70.7  70.7  70.7 mm was measured to be 52.8 MPa after 28
days of curing.
2.2 Textile
In this experiment, the textile consisted of mutual vertical
carbon and alkali-free glass yarns. In the textile, the weft was
the direction of enhancement and adopted carbon fiber
bundles. The warp direction of the textile was made of alkali-
free glass fiber bundles and played a fixed role. The mesh
spacing of the textile was 10 mm, as shown in Figure 1. The
mechanical properties of the textile obtained from the literature
(Yin et al., 2017b) are shown in Table II.
3. Experimental program
3.1 Test specimens and investigated parameters
A total of ten specimens with a cross section of 120  150 mm
were tested, and the thickness of the concrete cover was 20 mm.
Symmetrical reinforcement was used in the column, 4 ribbed
steel bars with a diameter of 12 mm were used as the
longitudinal reinforcement, and the shear reinforcement
consisted of 6.5-mm-diameter smooth steel bars. The steel bar
arrangement of the column is shown in Figure 2. To apply the
Silica fume Water Fine sand Coarse sand Water reducer
35 262 460 920 9.1
 TRC-strengthened concrete columns
Xiang-Qian Hu et al.
Figure 1 Textile composed of carbon and glass yarns
eccentric load in a convenient manner, both ends of the column
were designed in the shape of a corbel. The steel bar of the
tension side was bent into the corbel and served as a diagonal
compression reinforcement. Furthermore, the carbon fiber
cloth was wrapped at the end of the column after the 28-day
curing process to ensure that no local compression failure
occurred. Those columns were subjected to eccentric
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compression with a load eccentricity of 35 mm; the parameters
are shown in Table III. The sustained load ratio/loading-
unloading ratio is the ratio of the load applied on the specimens
to the ultimate load of the control column. To investigate the
effect of the slenderness ratio on the compression performance
of TRC-strengthened columns, three series of specimens were
designed with heights of 600, 800 and 1,000 mm. Columns C6
and C7 were under sustained load, and columns C8 and C9
were under loading-unloading, namely, loading for 12 h and
then unloading for 12 h.
Table II Mechanical properties and geometric parameters of fiber yarns of textile
Number of filaments Filament tensile
Fiber type per yarn strength (MPa)
Toray carbon (T700S) 12,000 4,660
E-glass 4k 3,200
Note: Effective sectional area of the grid is 0.45 mm2
Figure 2 Specimen size and steel configuration of each series (units in mm)
Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials
3.2 Reinforcement scheme
All reinforced columns were rounded to a radius of 20 mm. Before
the application of the reinforcement layers, the test portion of the
RC columns was chiseled. The steps to apply TRC were as follows:
 First, wet the surface of the column.
 Second, apply the matrix material (fine-grained concrete)
with a thickness of approximately 2 mm.
 Third, lay textile on the fine-grained around the column
with a lap length of 200 mm and then press it slightly into
the fine-grained concrete.
 Fourth, apply the upper fine-grained concrete.
At this point, a layer of reinforcement is completed. If multilayer
reinforcement are required, the above steps should be repeated.
The fifth step is wetting the water-curing TRC to age. The
overall thickness of the TRC was approximately 10 mm.
3.3 Corrosion process
The process of a wet-dry cycle was as follows (Yin et al.,
2017a): RC columns in 5 per cent sodium chloride solution
were soaked for 12 h; then, the solution was pumped dry and
maintained for 12 h. To ensure that the specimens were dry,
the evaporation of water in the specimens was accelerated by
blowing a fan on the specimens. Figure 3 shows an experiment
diagram of the coupling effect between chloride dry-wet cycles
and the loading. In this process, the same concentration of 5
per cent sodium chloride solution was used for chloride-wet-
dry cycles. According to the design requirements, the sustained
load was applied to the specimens by the jack in the reaction
frame, which is equipped with a sensor and pressure indicator.
Filament elastic Filament ultimate Yarn tex Yarn density
modulus (GPa) strain (%) (g/km) (g/cm3)
231 2 801 1.78
65 4.5 600 2.58
 TRC-strengthened concrete columns Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials
Xiang-Qian Hu et al.

Table III Specimen parameters

Number of
Specimen number Height (mm) Number of textile layers wet-dry cycles Sustained load ratio/ loading-unloading ratio (%)
C0 800 0 180 /
C1 800 2 180 /
C2 600 2 180 /
C3 1,000 2 180 /
C4 800 2 270 /
C5 800 2 360 /
C6 800 2 180 20
C7 800 2 180 40
C8 800 2 180 20
C9 800 2 180 40

Figure 3 Coupled effect of chloride dry-wet cycles and loading Figure 4 Loading device and instrumentations
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The stress relaxation of the material and the creep of the

concrete would cause the sustained load to decrease. Daily test
observations were performed to ensure constant load values.
3.4 Test setup and instrumentations
Eccentrically loaded experiments were conducted on a 7,000-
kN compression testing machine. Along the side of the column,
displacement sensors were placed at the ends of the columns
and at half the height and one-fourth height of the columns to
measure the lateral deformation. To measure the variation of
the section strain during the experiment, three concrete strain
gauges were spaced at equal intervals in the middle part of the
columns and two concrete strain gauges were placed on
the other corresponding two sides. The displacement meters
were indexed as DM1–DM5, and the strain gauge test points
were indexed as S1-S7. The arrangement of the
instrumentations and loading device are shown in Figure 4.
Before the start of each test, preloading was carried out to
eliminate the effect of a bearing offset. Formal loading could
start after the normal operation of the test equipment and
various measuring instruments was confirmed. Continuous
multistage loading was adopted, and no single step load
exceeded 10 per cent of the ultimate load. After the load
reached 90 per cent of its ultimate load, each additional step
load was increased by 5 per cent less than the ultimate load.
After each step load was completed, the loading was applied for
10 min. The test data were recorded when the readings of the
measuring instruments were stable.
4. Test results and discussion
4.1 Failure mode
At the early stages of loading, there were no obvious changes on
the surface of the unreinforced column. When the load
approached 90 per cent of the ultimate load value, many
longitudinal cracks were observed on the section near the side
of the vertical force. As the load increased further, cracks
developed rapidly with the failure of the carbon fiber cloth. At
the same time, several transverse cracks appeared in the middle
part of the other side that extended to the inside of the cross
section. As the applied load reached the ultimate load of the
unreinforced column, the concrete near the compression side
was suddenly crushed, and the crushing was accompanied by a
loud noise. The lateral reinforcement buckled to the outside, as
shown in Figure 5. The conditions for the reinforced columns
were as follows: at the beginning of loading, the situation was
highly similar to that of the unreinforced column; as the applied
load approached the ultimate load value, relatively few
 TRC-strengthened concrete columns Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials
Xiang-Qian Hu et al.

Figure 5 Failure mode of columns

longitudinal cracks appeared; as the load continued to increase, cracks to develop further, which in turn exacerbated the stress
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the cracks developed rapidly; and when the failure load was
reached, the TRC close to the pressure side of the vertical force
separated from the core concrete and bulged outwards; at the
center of the tensioned side, there was a significant transverse
crack on the surface of the TRC that nearly crossed the TRC
reinforcement layer wrapped on the surface of the column,
representing the first type and the main form of failure.
In Column C3, the TRC exhibited damage in the upper part of
the column; such damage belonged to the second type of failure.
When the column was subjected to eccentric loading, the core
concrete was in a state of uneven compression. Inhomogeneous
lateral expansion caused the hoop strain of the TRC to be uneven.
Large lateral deformation in the top of column C3 aggravated this
unevenness, causing failure of the TRC in the upper part of the
column. In column C7, the entire TRC reinforcement layer of the
specimen was broken and the internal concrete was crushed; this
type of damage belonged to the third type of failure. A summary
of the test result is provided in Table IV. In terms of the failure
mode of C7, the damage to the reinforcement layer was quite
serious, primarily because cracks appear and develop on the
surface of the column due to the sustained load. The hoop stress
at the crack location was transferred to the reinforcement layer;
thus, the TRC at this location has a certain stress concentration
(Harries and Carey, 2003). Erosion of chloride ions allowed
concentration in local areas of the TRC. Finally, the entire
reinforcement layer began to break. However, the reinforcement
effect decreased slightly when the sustained load was small.
4.2 Relationships between the load and longitudinal
strain
The load-strain curves of representative specimens C0 and C1
are shown in Figure 6. In general, most of the cross section was
in a state of compression, and a small part of the cross section
was in a state of tension. The strain was zero at a cross-sectional
position of approximately 130 mm. After the reinforcement of
the TRC, the strain of the concrete columns increased with
increasing load and basically conformed to the plane section
assumption. Figure 6(a) and (b) shows that the longitudinal
strain of TRC-strengthened column C1 was significantly lower
compared to that of unreinforced column C0 under the same
load. This lower strain showed that TRC can better restrain the
deformation of the column with small eccentricity and improve
its bearing capacity. A comparison of the load-strain curves of
C7 and C9 illustrates that the longitudinal strain of C7 is larger
under the same load. This result may be due to the
superposition of the initial strain at the time of the long-term
load and the strain caused by the creep, resulting in a large total

Table IV Test results of specimens

Specimen parameters Specimen number Ultimate bearing capacity (kN) Increase rate of bearing capacity (decrease rate) Failure mode
slenderness ratio C2 629.1 1.24% first type
C1 621.4 contrast column first type
C3 527.9 15.05% second type
number of wet-dry cycles C1 621.4 contrast column first type
C4 610.6 1.74% first type
C5 593 4.57% first type
sustained load ratio C1 621.4 contrast column first type
C6 611.9 1.53% first type
C7 534.2 14.03% third type
Loading-unloading ratio C1 621.4 contrast column first type
C8 620.3 0.18% first type
C9 585 5.86% third type
 TRC-strengthened concrete columns Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials
Xiang-Qian Hu et al.

Figure 6 Load-strain curves of columns strain. After C9 was unloaded, the deformation of the concrete
was restored and the strain decreased.

4.3 Effect of different slenderness ratios

Table IV shows that compared with column C1, the increase
(or decrease) ratio of the bearing capacities of C2 and C3 were
1.24 per cent and 15.05 per cent, respectively. When the .
slenderness ratio was relatively small, slight differences were
found in the ultimate bearing capacity of the columns. The
ultimate bearing capacities of columns strengthened with TRC
were found to decrease with increases in the slenderness ratio,
primarily because the elasto-plastic deformation of the test
specimen during the compression process led to an increase in
the additional bending moment; moreover, when the
slenderness ratio increased, the stability coefficient of the TRC-
strengthened concrete columns started to influence the bearing
capacity. The stability coefficient was dependent on the elastic
modulus of the specimen, whereas it was independent of the
TRC. Therefore, when the slenderness ratio was relatively
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large, the reinforcement effect of TRC was not obvious.

Figure 7(a) shows that the different slenderness ratios had
considerable influences on the load-deformation curves of
columns strengthened with TRC. The deformation of
the columns decreased with decreases in the slenderness ratio.
In contrast to C1, the deformation of C2, which had a small
slenderness ratio, was smaller. The cross section of column C3
was in an elastic stage at the beginning of loading, and the
change in deformation was largely linear. As the load increased,
part of the cross section entered the elasto-plastic stage, and the
curve began to bend. The lateral deformation increased
suddenly when the column was loaded to the ultimate load.

4.4 Effect of different wet-dry cycles

Table IV reveals that the bearing capacities of specimen
columns C4 and C5 were reduced by 1.73 per cent and 4.57
per cent, respectively, compared to that of column C1. With an
increasing number of wet-dry cycles, the reinforcement effect
of TRC was weakened. Figure 7(b) shows that the three curves
of the specimens largely coincided in the initial stage of the
compression process. When the load gradually increased, the
deformation of columns increased with an increasing number
of wet-dry cycles; however, the increase was not dramatic.
Under chloride-wet-dry cycles, the convection of chloride ions
mainly occurred on the surface of the concrete, with a depth of
15 mm (Li and Li, 2010). This depth is similar to the thickness
of the TRC reinforcement layer. The chloride ions in solution
reacted with calcium bicarbonate and hydrated calcium
carbonate in concrete to generate calcium aluminum chloride;
the resulting crystalline expansion caused the damage to the
interface between the TRC reinforcement and concrete (Yin
et al., 2017a). The intrusion of chloride ions also increased with
an increasing number of wet-dry cycles. The damage was
gradual deterioration that reduced the effect of the
reinforcement. The ductility and ultimate bearing capacity of
the column were naturally reduced. However, Table IV also
reveals that the decrease in bearing capacity was small,
demonstrating that TRC had better resistance to chloride ion
attack during this age.
 TRC-strengthened concrete columns
Xiang-Qian Hu et al.
Figure 7 Load-deformation curves of columns under different
conditions
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Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials
4.5 Effect of different sustained load ratios
Table IV indicates that the bearing capacities of C6 and C7
were 1.53 and 14.03 per cent lower than that of C1,
respectively. When the sustained load ratio was relatively small,
the bearing capacity of the columns under the coupled effect of
loading and a chloride environment was smaller than that of the
counterparts under chloride-wet-dry cycles only. However, the
damage to the TRC became more serious when the sustained
load ratio increased. The confinement effect on the columns
was reduced, resulting in a significant decrease in the bearing
capacity. This was because the sustained load produced fine
cracks on the surface of the TRC. When the load was small, the
amount of intrusion of chloride ions was small, and there was
less damage to the reinforcement layer. Both the amount and
width of the fine cracks increased with increases in the
sustained load ratio, causing the damage to the TRC and the
columns to become more serious. Previous research results
(Aguado et al., 1996) showed that any type of loading will lead
to different degrees in deterioration of the concrete strength
during reloading. The larger sustained load ratio weakened the
bearing capacity of the concrete, which in turn reduced
the mechanical properties of the TRC-strengthened concrete
columns to some extent. According to Figure 7(c), the three
curves of the specimens largely coincided in the initial stage of
the compression process, and the curves began to separate as
the load gradually increased. However, the difference
between the C1 and C6 curves was not significant. The
experimental results indicated that the deformation of columns
under the coupling action of load and a chloride environment
increased with an increase in the sustained load ratio. This was
because the surface of column C7 had cracks before loading
and the lateral deformation of concrete had developed. At this
point, there was a certain amount of damage inside the
concrete. Compared with C1, the deformation of C7 developed
faster when the second vertical loading was performed.
4.6 Effect of different loading-unloading ratios
Table IV shows that the bearing capacities of C8 and C9 were
0.18 and 5.86 per cent lower than those of C1, respectively. In
contrast to C6 and C7, the decrease in the bearing capacities of
C8 and C9 were lower than those of columns under a
proportional sustained load ratio. This result indicated that the
coupled effect of a chloride environment and larger loading-
unloading ratio had a considerable influence on the small
eccentric compression. However, when the loading-unloading
ratio was relatively small, such as 0.2, the effect of loading on
small eccentrically loaded columns strengthened with TRC was
low. For the given same sustained load ratio and loading-
unloading ratio, the effect of a sustained load on TRC
reinforcement was more obvious and the damage was more
serious. When the sustained load ratio was greater, more cracks
appeared and the width became larger. Moreover, the damage
to TRC was serious, leading to the further weakening of the
TRC reinforcement effect. Regarding C9 during the unloading
process, internal cracks tended to re-close; the local stress
concentration in the TRC was weakened, and the
reinforcement effect was better than that of C7. Figure 7(d)
shows that with increases in the loading-unloading ratio, the
deformation of the eccentric column increased via the coupled
effect of load and the chlorine environment. However, when
 TRC-strengthened concrete columns
Xiang-Qian Hu et al.
the loading-unloading ratio was relatively small, the effect on
deformation was low. For a given sustained load ratio, the
deformation of the column under loading-unloading was
smaller, and the curves of C1 and C8 approached each other.
This phenomenon likely occurred because the sustained load
caused more damage to the TRC. Thus, the restraint effect of
TRC was weakened, thereby lowering of restriction effect of the
TRC on the development of cracks. However, the coupling
effect of either a small sustained load ratio or small loading-
unloading ratio had little effect on the deformation of the small
eccentrically loaded columns strengthened with TRC.
5. Conclusion
This paper presented an experimental study of TRC-reinforced
columns under chloride-wet-dry cycles. The major conclusions
can be drawn based on the test results:
 The reinforcement scheme using TRC to reinforce the
concrete columns is effective in corrosive environments.
Compared with the unreinforced column, the deformation
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of the reinforced columns is obviously reduced and the
bearing capacity is greatly increased.
 The slenderness ratio has a considerable influence on the
mechanical properties of TRC-strengthened columns. With
an increase in the slenderness ratio, the deformation of the
columns subjected to small eccentric compression increases
and the bearing capacity decreases. Consequently, TRC
should not be used to reinforce eccentric compression
columns when the slenderness ratio is relatively large.
 TRC has an anti-erosion abilities under chloride-wet-dry
cycles. However, with an increasing number of wet-dry
cycles, the TRC reinforcement effect is weakened, and the
deformation of columns increases slightly.
 When the sustained load ratio is small, the bearing
capacity of columns under the coupled effect of loading
and a chloride environment is lower than that of the
columns exposed only to a corrosive environment, and the
difference in deformation is very small. However, an
increase in the sustained load ratio will cause more severe
damage to the TRC, resulting in a significant decrease in
the bearing capacity and an increase in the deformation.
 With an increase in the loading-unloading ratio, the
bearing capacity of the compression column decreases.
When the loading-unloading ratio is relatively low, the
extent of weakening of the TRC is relatively low; thus, the
effects on the deformation and bearing capacity are small.
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Corresponding author
Shiping Yin can be contacted at: yinshiping2821@163.com