Comparison of Stress-Strain Relationships of FRP and Actively Confined High-Strength Concrete: Experimental Observations

It is well established that lateral confinement of concrete enhances its axial strength and deformability. It is often assumed that, at a same level of confining pressure, the axial compressive stress and strain of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)-confined concrete at a given lateral strain are the same as those in concrete actively confined concrete. To assess the validity of this assumption, an experimental program relating both types of confinement systems was conducted. 25 FRP-confined and actively confined high-strength concrete (HSC) specimens cast from a same batch of concrete were tested under axial compression. The axial stress-strain and lateral strain-axial strain curves obtained from the two different confinement systems were assessed. The results indicate that, at a given axial strain, lateral strains of actively confined and FRP-confined concretes correspond, when they are subjected to the same lateral confining pressure. However, it is observed that, at these points of intersections on axial strain-lateral strain curves, FRP-confined concrete exhibits a lower axial stress than the actively confined concrete, indicating that the aforementioned assumption is not accurate. The test results indicate that the difference in the axial stresses of FRP-confined and actively confined HSC becomes more significant with an increase in the level of confining pressure.