Seismic performance improvement of GFRP-RC moment frames

Abstract

Although structures made of concrete reinforced with fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) have shown promising performance under gravity loads, their performance under cyclic loading is still one of the main concerns. Although the linear nature of FRP reinforcement could be advantageous in terms of limiting the residual damage after an earthquake event, it lowers the energy dissipation of the structure, which can compromise its seismic performance. In this research, adding steel plates at selected locations in moment-resisting frames is proposed as a solution to improve seismic performance of FRP-reinforced concrete (FRP-RC) structures. Three full-scale cantilever beams, one steel-RC, one FRP-RC, and one FRP-RC with proposed steel plates, were constructed and tested under reversed cyclic loading. The results indicated that the proposed mechanism effectively improves the seismic performance of FRP-RC beams by increasing their initial stiffness and energy dissipation. Moreover, a computer simulation, using the moment–curvature determination process, was conducted to calculate bending moment capacity of FRP-RC beams with steel plates.

Comparative Structural Analysis of GFRP, Reinforced Concrete, and Steel Frames under Seismic Loads

“…This structure is made entirely of pultruded GFRP elements. As a consequence, the current codes and guidelines for the design of FRP structures and FRP-reinforced structures (including, but not limited to GFPR ones) do not have a comprehensive seismic section, either in the USA, Canada [8], European Union [9], or other countries.…”

“…For what specifically concerns the earthquake resistance of GFRP-made structures, other very recent works include Ghomi and El-Salakawy's studies on the seismic behaviour of exterior GFRP-RC beam-column connections [10], GFRP-RC interior beam-column-slab subassemblies [11], and GFRP-RC moment-resisting frames [8]. Also worth mentioning is Tavassoli and Sheikh's work on the seismic resistance of steel-GFRP reinforced circular columns [12].…”