CONSTITUTIVE MODELING AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF FRP CONFINED CONCRETE SPECIMENS

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are generally used for the seismic retrofit of concrete members to enhance their strength and ductility. In the present work, the confining effect of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite layers has been investigated by numerical simulation. The numerical simulation has been carried out using nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) to predict the response behaviour of CFRP-wrapped concrete cylinders. The nonlinear behaviour of concrete in compression and the linear elastic behaviour of CFRP has been modeled using an appropriate constitutive relationship. A cohesive model has been developed for modeling the interface between the concrete and CFRP. The interaction and damage failure criteria between the concrete to the cohesive element and the cohesive element to the CFRP has also been accounted for in the modeling. The response behaviour of the wrapped concrete specimen has been compared with the proposed interface model and with a perfectly bonded condition. The results obtained from the present study showed good agreement with the experimental load-displacement response and the failure pattern in the literature. Further, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out to study the effect of the number of layers of CFRP on the concrete specimens. It has been observed that wrapping with two layers was found to be the optimum, beyond which the response becomes flexible but with a higher load-carrying capacity.