Performance of axially loaded concrete cylinders confined with SFRP materials

The paper presents the first results of a wide experimental campaign performed to investigate the compressive behaviour of plain concrete cylinders (150 mm diameter and 300 mm height) confined with Steel Fiber Reinforced Polymer (SFRP) materials. The complete test matrix includes 252 specimens and the main parameters investigated were the target compressive strength of the unconfined concrete (8, 15, 30 and 35 MPa) and the number of SFRP layers used for column jacketing (1, 2, and 3). Tests presented herein are 49, all belonging to the 15MPa-series, and the obtained results have allowed to investigate the effectiveness of using SFRP confining system to increase the compressive strength and ductility of concrete. Other aspects investigated herein deal with the stress-strain behavior, the circumferential strains of the SFRP jacket and the failure modes of SFRP wrapped specimens