EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON AXIAL COMPRESSION OF BRICK COLUMNS STRENGTHENED WITH HDC

Highly ductile fiber reinforced concrete (HDC) is a building material of high strength, ductility and damage tolerance. A new strengthening technique for brick columns with HDC layers was proposed in this study. 27 brick columns were tested in axial compressive loading. The experimental results showed that:1) HDC can provide confinement effects on masonry when used as mortar, thus the axial bearing capacity and deformability of brick columns were improved; 2) Under the confinement of HDC layers, the brick columns work in triaxial compression. The axial bearing capacity and the deformability were both significantly enhanced, and the brittle failure was delayed; 3) HDC layers and the core brick columns had good synergy work, which played an important role in enhancing the overall performance of brick columns. A calculation model was proposed to predict the ultimate strength of brick columns confined with HDC layers, and the calculation results agreed well with experimental results. Based on the tested results, the HDC can be used as an alternative material for masonry strengthening with broad engineering application.