A comparative experimental study of strengthened columns using steel reinforced grout (SRG) jacketing

This paper presents the results of a recent experimental investigation of short reinforced concrete column-type specimens, externally confined with Steel Reinforced Grout (SRG) jackets. Three groups of specimens were casted and tested under monotonic uniaxial compression. Each group comprised three different specimens, with a geometry of 200×200×380 mm, corresponding to a 2/3 scale of a 300×300 mm column. Parameters of investigation were the transverse steel reinforcement (i.e. no reinforcement, 100 mm spacing and 200 mm stirrup spacing) and the number of SRG layers (i.e. one or two). The geometry and the materials were selected to be similar to experimental setups found in literature. Thus, a comparison between SRG, Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) and Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) jacketing for confinement was possible. Experimental evidence demonstrated that all alternative jacketing systems were able to increase both strength and deformation capacity of the specimens.