Experimental and numerical investigation of FRP-confined SHS brace members under cyclic loading

In this paper, the enhanced resistance of Steel Hollow Section, SHS, braces, strengthened using Fiber Reinforced Plastics, FRP, was investigated. In this direction, a number of braces with two different slenderness ratios was reinforced with externally over-wrapped CFRP sheets and tested under cyclic loading. It is shown that the adopted strengthening method can preclude the local buckling which yields to improve ductility and energy dissipation capabilities of braces. The proposed technique also minimizes brace strength reduction during the load cycles. Furthermore, in the current work, a numerical simulation was generated in conjunction with damage criteria of materials. The validity of numerical analysis was accurately verified by the experimental results.