Seismic behavior of strengthened RC columns under biaxial loading: An experimental characterization

• 9 RC columns were tested under biaxial loading conditions.
• Columns were strengthened with CFRP and steel plates jacketing.
• The efficiency of the strengthening strategies, their possibilities and application is analyzed.

The main purpose of this work it to present an experimental campaign of different strengthening strategies of RC columns, and evaluating benefits concerning their structural behavior for cyclic loading. 9 RC columns were tested, two of them without strengthening and seven composed by strengthened columns by CFRP or steel plates jacketing. The aim is, therefore, to contribute for developing and calibration a procedure that enables the evaluation of the efficiency of the strengthening strategies, their possibilities and application. It was also an objective of this work to explore the possibility of using this techniques on the improvement of existing buildings performance.