Study of the compressive behavior of concrete confined by fiber reinforced composites

Uniaxial compression tests have been performed on normal and high strength concrete cylinders wrapped with different layers of glass and fiber reinforced epoxy. Hardening-type response is observed in the specimens with multiple fiber layers, with an increase in the load-carrying capacity and the axial strain at failure for a higher number of layers. In the normal concrete, the carbon fiber wraps result in slightly higher loads and significantly higher failure strains than with the glass fiber wraps. In the higher strength concrete, the better performance of the carbon fibers is much more evident. Nevertheless, the corresponding strain at failure is much lower than that of the normal concrete though the relative strength increase is about the same.