Experimental study of RC beam–column joints strengthened using CFRP composites

This paper presents an experimental study to strengthen the shear capacity of non-seismic joints using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) materials. Eight exterior RC beam–column joint specimens including a non-seismic specimen, a seismic specimen and six retrofitted specimens with different configurations of CFRP sheets were developed and tested to find out an effective way to improve the seismic performance of the joints in terms of the lateral strength and ductility. The different configurations of CFRP sheets considered were the T-shape, L-shape, X-shape and strip combinations. The research focused on the effect of using CFRP sheets for enhancing strength and increasing ductility of the non-seismic beam–column joints. The test results showed that appropriately adding CFRP composites to the non-seismic specimen significantly improved the lateral strength as well ductility of the test specimens. Especially, the X-shaped configuration of wrapping, the strips on the column and two layers of the CFRP sheets resulted in a better performance in terms of ductility and strength.