Experimental Investigation on RC Columns Confined by Jacket with Geopolymer Adhesive

Abstract

Columns are one of the important structural members of engineering buildings. The impairment of reinforced concrete columns is one of the important problems affecting most structures, therefore the confinement of columns by fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) is necessary to improve its behavior such as its load capacity, compressive strength, and ductility. The FRP used in the confinement is modern and wide application composite material in the field of civil engineering, which is pasted by epoxy. The fast impairment of epoxy at high temperatures leads to its replacement with an effective adhesive: geopolymers. This study presents the test result of an experimental investigation on confinement of six square RC columns with dimension (100*100*600mm) with geopolymer jacket under axial load conditions. The parameter considered is the jacketing material used (carbon fiber, plastic mesh, steel wire mesh, jute fiber, glass fiber mesh). Results of the test showed that confinement could improve the stiffness of the column by using a different type of material. The confinement with a carbon fiber reinforced geopolymers jackets can enhance the strength of the column after applying axial loading and improvement the performance of columns, but it is expensive. Where the increase in the load improvement and deformation capacity was (1.59 and 1.97), respectively, and the most effective jacket material in terms of economic cost and best performance in confinement operation consisted of (plastic mesh and steel wire mesh) compared to other types of material, with load enhancement by (1.41 and 1.27) and deformation capacity by (1.86 and 1.50), respectively compared with unconfined RC columns. Finally, the confinement by a different type of fiber-reinforced geopolymer adhesive is the most effective and used in the repair and rehabilitation of RC in the area with high-temperature climates.