Behavior of Concrete-Filled Single and Double-Skin uPVC Tubular Columns Under Axial Compression Loads

Background: There is an increased demand for high-performance materials in the construction industry due to high cost, difficulty of sourcing and shortcomings of the existing construction materials. Some of the deficiencies are corrosion of steel, brittle failure and rapid deterioration of reinforced concrete structures in a harsh environment. Nowadays, there is also a shift from one material to another due to the difficulty of sourcing i.e. timber electric poles to concrete poles due to the difficulty of sourcing. These situations have triggered the interest to develop an alternative structural system. Objective: This paper presents the behavior of unconfined concrete, Concrete-Filled Single Skin uPVC Tubular (CFSUT) and concrete-filled double skin uPVC tubular (CFDUT) members under axial compression loads. Method: The unconfined concrete cylinders, CFSUT and CFDUT specimens were prepared from a concrete class of C25 and tested using a UTM machine at a rate of 0.2MPa/s. The parameters considered included thickness to diameter ratio (2t/D), aspect ratio (h/D) and hollow ratio (d/D). Also, a model was developed to predict the peak strength of CFSUT and CFDUT specimens. Results: The result shows that both CFSUT and CFDUT specimens exhibited improved strength, ductility, and energy absorption capacity. For CFSUT and CFSUT specimens, the strength, ductility, and energy absorption capacity increased by more than 1.32, 3.75 and 14.75 times compared to the unconfined concrete specimens, respectively. It is found that the strength decreased as the h/D and d/D ratios increased. The result also shows that the strain of CFSUT and CFDUT at the peak strength increased by more than 3.16 times compared to the unconfined concrete specimens. The proposed model accurately predicted the peak strength with AAE of 2.13%. Conclusion: The uPVC confinement provided a remarkable improvement on the strength, ductility and energy absorption of concrete. Therefore, uPVC tubes can be used as a confining material for bridge piers, piles, electric poles, and building columns to increase strength, ductility and energy absorption of concrete structures.

[1]  Dusan Najdanovic,et al.  Strength and ductility of concrete confined circular columns , 2014 .

[2]  N. Mohamad,et al.  Experimental Investigation of Concrete Filled PVC Tube Columns Confined By Plain PVC Socket , 2017 .

[3]  Rolf Bader,et al.  Finite-Element Simulation , 2013 .

[4]  Abraham Mengesha Woldemariam,et al.  Structural Performance of uPVC Confined Concrete Equivalent Cylinders Under Axial Compression Loads , 2019, Buildings.

[5]  Manicka Dhanasekar,et al.  Effects of load-related parameters on the response of concrete-filled double-skin steel tube columns subjected to lateral impact , 2017 .

[6]  Carl E. Kurt,et al.  Concrete Filled Structural Plastic Columns , 1978 .

[7]  Qingping Li,et al.  Experimental study on mechanical properties of methane-hydrate-bearing sediments , 2012 .

[8]  M. Hassanein,et al.  Circular concrete-filled double skin tubular short columns with external stainless steel tubes under axial compression , 2013 .

[9]  Genda Chen,et al.  Compressive behavior of FRP-confined concrete-filled PVC tubular columns , 2016 .

[10]  S. Sheikh,et al.  Experimental Study of Normal- and High-Strength Concrete Confined with Fiber-Reinforced Polymers , 2010 .

[11]  Lin-Hai Han,et al.  Analytical behaviour of concrete-filled double skin steel tubular (CFDST) stub columns , 2010 .

[12]  Nwzad Abduljabar Abdulla.  Influence of plastic pour-in form on mechanical behavior of concrete , 2019, Structures.

[13]  Genda Chen,et al.  FRP-confined concrete filled PVC tubes: A new design concept for ductile column construction in seismic regions , 2017 .

[14]  Pramod K. Gupta,et al.  Study of concrete-filled unplasticized poly-vinyl chloride tubes in marine environment , 2016 .

[15]  Wei Li,et al.  Tensile behaviour of concrete-filled double-skin steel tubular members , 2014 .

[16]  Naftary Gathimba.  Performance of UPVC Pipe Confined Concrete Columns in Compression , 2015 .

[17]  W. Oyawa,et al.  Structural response of composite concrete filled plastic tubes in compression , 2016, Steel and Composite Structures.

[18]  Ben Young,et al.  Fire resistance of concrete-filled high strength steel tubular columns , 2013 .

[19]  Michel Bruneau,et al.  Finite Element Simulation of Concrete-Filled Double-Skin Tube Columns Subjected to Postearthquake Fires , 2015 .

[20]  Gino Iannace,et al.  Acoustic enhancement of a modern church , 2019 .

[21]  Panagiotis G. Asteris,et al.  Developing GEP tree-based, neuro-swarm, and whale optimization models for evaluation of bearing capacity of concrete-filled steel tube columns , 2019, Engineering with Computers.

[22]  D. Lam,et al.  Experiments on the bearing capacity of tapered concrete filled double skin steel tubular (CFDST) stub columns , 2014 .

[23]  F. Zhou,et al.  Cyclic loading tests on concrete-filled double-skin (SHS outer and CHS inner) stainless steel tubular beam-columns , 2016 .

[24]  Pramod K. Gupta.  Confinement of concrete columns with unplasticized Poly-vinyl chloride tubes , 2013 .

[25]  T. Rousakis,et al.  Concrete confined by FRP material: a plasticity approach , 2002 .

[26]  Jun-Yan Wang,et al.  Investigation on compressive behaviors of thermoplastic pipe confined concrete , 2012 .

[27]  Yu-Fei Wu,et al.  The effect of longitudinal reinforcement on the cyclic shear behavior of glass fiber reinforced gypsum wall panels: tests , 2004 .