The use of glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars as an alternative to steel bars for reinforcing concrete (RC) structures has gained increasing attention in recent years. GFRP bars offer several advantages over steel bars, such as corrosion resistance, lightweight, high tensile strength, and non-magnetic properties. However, there are also some challenges and uncertainties associated with the behavior and performance of GFRP-reinforced concrete (GFRP-RC) structures, especially under compression and bonding behavior. Therefore, there is a need for comprehensive experimental investigations to validate the effectiveness of GFRP bars in concrete columns. This paper presents a study that aims to address these issues by conducting experimental tests on GFRP-RC columns. The experimental tests examine the mechanical properties of GFRP bars and their bond behavior with concrete, as well as the axial compressive behavior of GFRP-RC columns with different reinforcement configurations, tie spacing, and bar sizes. The findings reveal that GFRP bars demonstrate a comparable, if not superior, compressive capacity to traditional steel bars, significantly contributing to the load-bearing capacity of concrete columns. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for further exploration, underscoring the potential of GFRP bars in revolutionizing the construction industry.

A Blast loading history can be represented by the peak pressure value and the impulse. Combinations of pressure and impulse of various blast loading scenarios can be collected to draw a pressure-impulse (P-I) curve that corresponds to a level of damage of a blast-resistant structural component. The P-I curve is typically used for a preliminary design or assessment of blast resistance structural components. Generating a P I curve for a given structural component and level of protection requires repeatedly ru nning a single degree of freedom system (SDOF) model, which can be tedious for early design stages. Hence, a simplified approach (i.e., the normalization approach) was utilized to promptly generate the P- I curve for insulated precast concrete wall panels, which relies on shifting a control P I curve using normalization factors. The generated P-I curves using the normalization approach are validated with the traditional SDOF approach curves; 95% of the examined insulted panel configurations have an error between +/-7%. As a result of the reached low error percentages, a spreadsheet- design tool was developed using this approach. The tool can further enable rapid evaluation of the performance of insulated precast concrete panels under blast loading during the preliminary design phase.