Behavior of eccentrically loaded concrete-filled GFRP tubular short columns

The glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) tube is an effective material that can increase the bearing capacity and ductility of concrete.To study the mechanical behavior of this composite structure,twenty-one concrete-filled GFRP tubular short columns were tested under an eccentric load.The principle influencing factors,such as the eccentricity ratio,concrete strength and ratio of longitudinal reinforcement were also studied.In addition,the course of deformation,failure mode,and failure mechanism were analyzed by observing the phenomena and summarizing the data.The test results indicated that the strength and deformation characteristics of core concrete increase as a result of the addition of the GFRP tube.However,the gain in strength due to the addition of the GFRP tube decreases as the ratio of e /d increases.An increase in the longitudinal steel ratio can improve the bearing capacity of the composite short column effectively.Furthermore,the study showed that the constraint effect of the GFRP tube on high-strength concrete is not as effective as that on common concrete.The reason is that the lateral deformation of the high-strength concrete is less than that of the common concrete when the concrete column was tested under the same axial compression ratio.