Experimental investigation of textile reinforced engineered cementitious composite (ECC) for square concrete column confinement

Confining concrete elements with fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) is proven to be an efficient technique in improving the dilation and axial performance of concrete columns. However, its effectiveness is reduced significantly for non-circular columns. In addition, a few drawbacks of using FRP, such as brittleness of FRP sheet and poor performance of the epoxy resins at high or low temperatures, have been found in recently year. This paper presents a feasibility investigation of a newly developed strengthening system, basalt fibre textile reinforced engineered cementitious composite (ECC). Three types of basalt fibre textile were used, in combination with ECC to confine square concrete columns. The experimental results revealed that the new strengthening system has significantly enhanced the load carrying capacity and ductility of square concrete columns compared to the unconfined specimens and the specimens confined with textile reinforced mortars (TRM); the axial compressive strength increased in the range of 54%-77% for the new strengthening system compared to 41% for the TRM system. The results also shown that ECC itself could be used as a new retrofitting material in column confinement.