STUDY ON THE BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE-FILLED FRP-PVC TUBULAR FLEXURAL MEMBERS

To explore the behavior of concrete-filled FRP-PCV tubular flexural members, a total of six specimens were tested and a procedure code was developed for the finite element analysis. Furthermore, a comparison was made between the simulation and experimental results. On the basis of verifying simulation results against experimental results, the main parameters varied in the tests were the layers of FRP, types, and patterns. The effect of the varying parameters on the flexural behaviors was investigated, such as the failure modes, ultimate bending capacity, and stress-strain relation curves. Additionally, the working principle was studied, and a simplified formula was presented to compute the ultimate bending moment capacity. The results show that the external confinement of concrete specimens by FRP-PVC tubes results in enhancing the ultimate bending strength and ultimate deformation, that the ultimate bending capacity increases with the FRP layers, and that the confining effect in CFRP is better than that in BFRP, which brings about the remarkable rise in bearing capacity and ductility.