Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has become increasingly popular as a confining material for concrete, both in the strengthening of existing columns where FRP wraps with fibers oriented completely or predominantly in the hoop direction are typically used, and in new construction where filament-wound FRP tubes with fibers oriented at desired angles to the longitudinal axis are typically used. For both types of applications, the stress-strain behavior of FRP-confined concrete under cyclic axial compression needs to be properly understood and modeled for the accurate simulation of such columns under seismic loading. This paper presents an improved cyclic stress-strain model for FRP-confined concrete on the basis of a critical assessment of an earlier model proposed by Lam and Teng in 2009 by making use of a database containing new test results of both concrete-filled FRP tubes (CFFTs) and concrete cylinders confined with an FRP wrap. The assessment reveals several deficiencies of Lam and Teng's model due to the limited test results available to them. The proposed model corrects these deficiencies and is shown to provide reasonably accurate predictions for both concrete in CFFTs and concrete confined with an FRP wrap and for both normal strength concrete (NSC) and high strength concrete (HSC).Department of Civil and Environmental Engineerin

Concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer tubes are a novel form of composite columns, which are particularly attractive for structural members in harsh environments and seismic regions due to their corrosion resistance and ductile behavior. Over the past two decades, many studies have been conducted on concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer tubes under axial compression, and many stress–strain models have been proposed. However, existing studies mainly focused on concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer tubes with only hoop fibers. In order to investigate the effect of fiber angles (i.e. the fiber angle between the fiber orientation and the longitudinal axis of fiber-reinforced polymer tube), this study conducted axial compression tests of 42 concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer tubes with ±80°, ±60°, or ±45° fiber angles. These concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer tubes were constructed using normal-strength concrete or high-strength concrete. Fiber-reinforced polymer tube thickness was also investigated as an important parameter. In order to clarify the effect of fiber angles on the properties of fiber-reinforced polymer tubes, axial compression tests on 15 short fiber-reinforced polymer tubes and tensile split-disk tests on 75 fiber-reinforced polymer rings were conducted. Experimental results indicate that fiber angles had significant influences on the hoop properties of fiber-reinforced polymer tube; the confinement effect of fiber-reinforced polymer tube and the peak stress of the confined concrete decreased with the decrease of the absolute value of fiber angles, while the ultimate strain of the confined concrete increased with the decrease of the absolute value of fiber angles. Two existing stress–strain models, which were developed mainly on test results of concrete confined by fiber-reinforced polymer tubes with only hoop fibers, are capable of providing reasonably accurate predictions for concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer tubes with ±80° and ±60° fiber angles, but it underestimates the ultimate axial strain of concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer tubes with ±45° fiber angles.

Hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns are a novel form of hollow columns that combine two traditional construction materials (i.e. concrete and steel) with fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns consist of an inner tube made of steel, an outer tube made of fiber-reinforced polymer, and a concrete layer between the two tubes. Existing studies, however, are focused on hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns with fibers of the fiber-reinforced polymer tube oriented in the hoop direction or close to the hoop direction. In order to investigate the effect of fiber angles (i.e. the fiber angle between the fiber orientation and the longitudinal axis of the fiber-reinforced polymer tube), monotonic axial compression tests were conducted on hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns with an fiber-reinforced polymer tube of ±45°, ±60°, or ±80° fiber angles. There were two types of steel tubes adopted for these hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns. The fiber-reinforced polymer tube thickness was also investigated as an important parameter. Experimental results showed that the confinement effect of the fiber-reinforced polymer tube increased with the increase of the absolute value of fiber angles, whereas the ultimate axial strain of hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns decreased with the increase of the absolute value of fiber angles. An existing stress–strain model, which was developed on the basis of hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns with an fiber-reinforced polymer tube of ±90° fiber angles, is verified using the test results of this study. For the compressive strength of the confined concrete in hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns, the existing model provides conservative predictions for specimens with a ±80° fiber-reinforced polymer tube, overestimated predictions for specimens with a ±60° fiber-reinforced polymer tube, and close predictions for specimens with a ±45° fiber-reinforced polymer tube.