Ferrocement confinement of plain and reinforced concrete

The sophisticated arrangement of confinement in columns using closely spaced stirrups not only interrupts the continuity and creates a plane of weakness between core and concrete cover, but also adds to the problem of congestion. This is the reason why most of the time it may not be possible to confine the structure sufficiently by providing laterals alone, and supplementary confinement such as ferrocement composites may be necessary. The success of the ferrocement technology is attributed to the ready availability of its component materials, low level of technology needed for construction and low cost. In the past decades, ferrocement has emerged as a very good rehabilitating/restrengthening material because of its superior mechanical properties, high in-plane strength and mouldability. In the present paper a review of the research on ferrocement confinement of plain and reinforced concrete with applications to column retrofitting is presented.