Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Behavior of corroded circular RC columns strengthened by C-FRCM under

cyclic loading
Ran Feng a, b, Yanwen Li a, Ji-Hua Zhu c, *, Feng Xing c
a
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
b
State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
c
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Durability for Marine Civil Engineering, College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen
518060, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study presents an experimental investigation on the seismic behavior of corroded reinforced concrete (RC)
C-FRCM columns strengthened by carbon-fabric reinforced cementitious matrix (C-FRCM). To this end, cyclic loading
Corroded tests were conducted on seven circular RC columns, six of which were suffered from corrosion with duration of
Cyclic loading
360 days. Four of the corroded specimens were afterwards strengthened by C-FRCM composites. Among these,
Reinforced concrete (RC) column
Seismic performance
two specimens were externally bounded with two layers of C-FRCM, the other two specimens were externally
Structural strengthening bounded with three layers of C-FRCM. After the corrosion process, cyclic loading tests were conducted on the
specimens, wherein various axial compression (AC) ratios were considered. The test results show that the secant
stiffness, strength, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of corroded specimens were significantly reduced
compared with those of the uncorroded counterparts. This phenomenon is severer with larger AC ratio. The C-
FRCM can effectively enhance the stiffness, strength, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the corroded RC
columns, wherein two layers of C-FRCM is considered to be desirable for the C-FRCM strengthening approach.

Sufficient ductility, as well as stiffness and strength of structural

1. Introduction
Reinforced concrete (RC) structures, owning to their favorable
load-carrying capacity and excellent workability, are widely adopted
in structural and infrastructural engineering. However, the RC mem­
bers may suffer from serious corrosion in some scenarios, such as piers
located in coastal areas, bridge decks exposed to winter deicing salts
and structural members built with sea-water sea-sand concrete. High
concentration of chlorides in the environment or in the concrete can
cause serious corrosion of the embedded rebars, which may lead to
deteriorated structural performance and shortened lifespan [1–4]. In
particular, the corrosion results in mass loss and degraded tensile and
fatigue properties of steel rebars [5–7]. Such degradation of me­
chanical properties of corroded rebars results in poor structural
behavior of RC members, since the ductility and energy dissipation of
RC members are strongly dependent on the tensile and fatigue per­
formance of steel rebars. This aspect has attracted increasing attention
since RC structures have been widely adopted in the coastal areas and
exposed to the environment with a high concentration of chlorides for
decades.
members under earthquakes, is a critical issue for RC structures to
survive from major earthquakes. As reported in the literature [8–11],
the corrosion will reduce the cross-section of steel rebars, and result in
ductility deterioration of concrete and steel rebars [12,13]. Previous
experimental studies have demonstrated that ductility, as well as
stiffness and strength of corroded RC members are significantly dete­
riorated no matter under static monotonic loading or cyclic loading
[11,14–17].
Providing the corroded RC columns with additional confinement is
one of the most effective solutions to improve ductility, as well as
stiffness and strength. Based on this idea, various strengthening tech­
niques, by using carbon fiber reinforce polymer (CFRP) [18–26], steel
jackets [27], combination of CFRP and steel jackets [28], and steel fiber
reinforced cementitious composites [29,30], have been developed and
applied in the civil engineering over the last decades. Since the CFRP
always adopting organic polymer matrix (e.g. epoxy), delamination is
inevitable in the substrate between the inorganic concrete and the CRFP
[31–36]. For the strengthening techniques by using steel jackets and
steel fiber reinforced cementitious composites, the corrosion of steel
jacket and steel fibers is remaining a problem. Moreover, both CFRP

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhujh@szu.edu.cn (J.-H. Zhu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.111311
Received 14 March 2020; Received in revised form 10 July 2020; Accepted 8 September 2020
Available online 5 October 2020
0141-0296/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

experimental program.
Notations
2. Experimental investigation
Ag Cross-section area of circular column
fcu,k Compressive strength of concrete cube 2.1. Test specimens
fc’ Compressive strength of concrete prism
Fmax Positive ultimate load Fig. 1 shows the relationship of a RC frame prototype to laboratory
+Fi Positive maximum load in the ith cycle specimens. Under earthquakes, the RC frame suffers from a combination
-Fi Negative maximum load in the ith cycle of vertical gravity loads and horizontal seismic action (Fig. 1a). To
Ki Secant stiffness of the specimen in the ith cycle investigate the behavior of corroded RC columns under such a load
n0 AC ratio condition, one of RC columns with fixed base in the ground story, was
N AC force adopted as the substructure (Fig. 1b). The moment diagram of the
αv Utilization rate of CF mesh substructure subjected to vertical and horizontal loads is also illustrated
εf Tensile strain of CF mesh in Fig. 1b, wherein an inflection point of the substructure with zero
εmax Maximum horizontal strain in the innermost CF mesh moment can be observed. In this study, the base to the inflection point of
λi Strength degradation factor in the ith cycle the substructure was physically modeled and tested (Fig. 1c). All spec­
μ Ductility factor imens were designed and built in full-scale, and thus the seismic
Δu Ultimate top displacement at failure behavior of RC columns in the RC frame can be realistically captured.
Δy Top displacement at yield Seven circular RC columns were designed and fabricated. All speci­
+Δi Positive maximum displacement in the ith cycle mens have the same dimensions, and were fabricated by using the same
-Δi Negative maximum displacement in the ith cycle batch of concrete and rebars. Fig. 2 shows the detailed reinforcement
layout of all the specimens. The height and diameter of specimens are
1350 and 300 mm, respectively. Nominal diameters of the longitudinal
rebars and stirrups are 16 and 8 mm, respectively. Among all the spec­
imens, one specimen without corrosion was designed as a reference
composites and steel jacket have poor performance at elevated group; other six specimens were designed to account for the test vari­
temperatures. ables, including corrosion, layer of the C-FRCM and AC ratio. Note that
As an alternative, the fiber reinforced cementitious composites, the AC ratio is the ratio of applied axial load to the design axial
such as high performance fiber reinforced concrete jackets [37], have compression capacity of the test specimens. To facilitate the corrosion
become a class of emerging composites in the construction industry in process, 3%NaCl by the weight of cement in the concrete mix was uti­
recent years, given its the same inorganic nature with concrete and lized. Specifically, all specimens were watered thoroughly and kept wet
fire resistance [38–45]. Among these, the C-FRCM, adopting cement for twelve hours, then kept dry for the remaining twelve hours in each
as the base matrix, is one of the most promising in practical applica­ day.
tions [42]. Previous studies mainly focused on the mechanical prop­
erties of C-FRCM [42,46] and the behavior of corroded RC beams and 2.2. Labelling system
columns strengthened by C-FRCM system under static monotonic
loading [43,47]. At present, the behavior of corroded RC members Each test specimen was assigned a label, as shown in Table 1. In
strengthened by C-FRCM system under cyclic loading has not been particular, the label starts with the layer of C-FRCM and AC ratio. The
reported yet. information about the corrosion time (unit: day) is shown at the end of
Based on the above, this study aims to investigate the effect of C- the label. For instance, the label ‘L2-N3-C360′ stands for a specimen with
FRCM on recovering the loss of ductility, as well as stiffness and the layer (L) of C-FRCM of 2, the AC ratio (N) in the test of 0.3, and the
strength of RC columns due to corrosion under earthquakes. Seismic corrosion time (C) of 360 days.
behavior of the corroded RC columns with and without C-FRCM
strengthening was examined through cyclic loading tests. The layer of 2.3. Material properties
C-FRCM required for strengthening corroded RC columns under low
and high axial compression (AC) ratio is considered in the The ingredients of concrete mix are shown in Table 2. Table 3 lists

Ni i Ni
N Moment
Pi V diagram

1
N1 N1 Inflection N
point V
P1

Substructure

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 1. RC frame prototype to laboratory relationship: (a) Full-scale prototype, (b) Substructure model, (c) Laboratory specimen.

2
R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

Fig. 2. Dimensions and reinforcement layout of test specimens.

Table 1 Table 3
Details of test specimens. Material properties of concrete, steel rebars, carbon fibers and cementitious
Specimen Layer of C-FRCM AC ratio Corrosion time (day)
matrix.
Material Young’s Compressive Yield Tensile Tensile
L0-N3-C0 0 0.3 0
modulus E strength fcu stress strength strain εf
L0-N3-C360 0 0.3 360
(MPa) (MPa) fy fu (MPa) (%)
L2-N3-C360 2 0.3 360
(MPa)
L3-N3-C360 3 0.3 360
L0-N6-C360 0 0.6 360 Concrete — 44.3 — — —
L2-N6-C360 2 0.6 360 Concrete(with — 41.5 — — —
L3-N6-C360 3 0.6 360 3%NaCl)
Rebar 133,189 — 404.9 534.1 11.20
(HPB300)
Rebar 221,010 — 596.4 734.9 9.52
Table 2 (HRB400)
Ingredients of concrete mix. Carbon fibers 146,736 — — 1574 1.134
Cementitious 76 66.9 — — —
Cement Fine Coarse Water Superplasticizer NaCl (by
matrix
(kg) aggregate aggregate (kg) (ml) the
(kg) (kg) weight of
cement)
HRB400 rebar (nominal yield strength of 400 MPa) are 596.4 and
1.00 2.15 3.23 0.48 0.0244 3%
734.9 MPa, respectively. Material properties of the carbon fibers and
the cementitious matrix were obtained from the standard tests ac­
cording to the guidelines of ASTM D4018 [48] and BS EN 196–1 [49],
the detailed material properties of steel rebars and concrete. Me­ respectively. The carbon fabric (CF) mesh has 100 bundles in both
chanical properties of the strengthening materials (i.e. cementitious horizontal and vertical direction. Details of the CF mesh are shown in
matrix and carbon fibers) are also presented in the table. For each Fig. 3.
concrete material test, three concrete cubes in nominal dimensions of
150 × 150 × 150 mm with the same curing cycle of 360 days were
prepared. It shows that the average strengths of the concrete cubes (fcu) 2.4. Accelerated corrosion procedure
in compression with and without NaCl are 44.3 and 41.5 MPa,
respectively. Standard tensile coupon tests were also conducted on the As reported in the literatures [50,51], the accelerated dry-wet cycle
steel rebars. It shows that the yield stress and tensile strength of the method was proven closer to the natural environmental corrosion than
HPB300 rebar (nominal yield strength of 300 MPa) are 404.9 and using electric current corrosion, and thus the accelerated dry-wet cycle
534.1 MPa, respectively. The yield stress and tensile strength of the method was adopted in the corrosion process with duration of 360 days.

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R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

Fig. 3. Details of CF mesh.

Each dry-wet cycle consisted of a dry phase lasting twelve hours and a
wet phase lasting twelve hours. During the wet phase, all specimens
were watered thoroughly, wet sponge were wrapped on the lower part of
each specimen to provide sufficient moisture and prevent excessive
evaporation of the water, while at the beginning of each dry phase, the
sponge were removed so that the specimens were exposed to the sun.
Note that the concrete in specimens was mixed with 3%NaCl to promote
chlorides induced corrosion in the steel rebars [43]. It should be noted
that the percentage of NaCl is measured by the weight of cement. For
each specimen, the corrosion process was monitored by the external
instrumentation according to ASTM C876-91 Standard [3].
(a) without NaCl (b) with NaCl

2.5. Corrosion of the steel rebars Fig. 4. Corrosion of steel rebars.

The most accurate way to measure the degree of corrosion of steel

rebars is to compare their net weight before and after the corrosion. In
this study, three steel rebars were taken respectively from the upper
part, the middle part and the lower part of the column body to measure
the degree of corrosion of steel rebars. The collected steel rebar samples
were washed, dried and weighted according to the guidelines of ASMT
G1-03 Standard [52]. The corrosion of steel rebars is shown in Fig. 4.
Obviously, the steel rebars in concrete mixed with NaCl had suffered
severer corrosion than those without NaCl. Fig. 5 shows the weight loss
of steel rebars in each specimen. It shows that the degree of corrosion of
steel rebars in the specimens mixed with NaCl is much higher than those
in the specimen without mixing NaCl. Specifically, weight loss of steel
rebars in the specimen with NaCl may be as much as 6.34% (i.e. in L2-
N3-C360), while this value in the specimen without NaCl is 1.65% (i.e.
in L0-N3-C0). Moreover, the degree of corrosion of steel rebars at the
lower part of the column is much higher than that at the upper part of
the column for all specimens, since the lower part of the column always
immersed in the most abundant moist environment, which can promote
the flow of chlorides.

4
R. Feng et al.
(a) L0-N3-C0
(b) L0-N3-C360 (c) L2-N3-C360
(e) L0-N6-C360 (f) L2-N6-C360
Fig. 5. Degree of corrosion of steel rebars in test specimens (expressed by weight loss of steel rebars in each section).
2.6. Strengthening process
Fig. 6 shows the strengthening approach of corroded circular RC
columns. The region from the base up to 600 mm in elevation was
strengthened by the C-FRCM system, since this region is most vulnerable
to the seismic damage under strong earthquakes [53], and the
strengthening length of circular RC columns was recommended to be no
less than 1.2 times the column diameter [54]. Fig. 7 shows the process of
attaching the CF mesh. It includes four steps: (a) roughen the surface of
the strengthening region with a grinder to expose the coarse aggregates,
then clean and wash the surface with steel brushes and water; (b) wrap
the strengthening region with sponge and water this region thoroughly
and last twelve hours of wet phase to prepare for the interface with the
cementitious matrix; (c) paste a layer of cementitious matrix on the
concrete substrate, then wrap tightly one layer of CF mesh on the
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Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311
(d) L3-N3-C360
(g) L3-N6-C360
strengthening region [55], following with pasting another layer of
cementitious matrix, afterwards repeating this process to attach another
layer of CF mesh; (d) cover the strengthening region with preservative
film to prevent the evaporation of water, remove the preservative film
after the hardening of the cementitious matrix. Note that each layer of
cementitious matrix is 5 mm in thickness.
2.7. Test procedure
As shown in Fig. 8, each test specimen was horizontally loaded with
one hydraulic actuator, with maximum capacity of 2000 kN, installed at
the column cap and vertically loaded with one hydraulic actuator with
maximum capacity of 5000 kN. Firstly, the vertical actuator applied to
the test specimens with the designed constant AC load. The AC value for
test specimens is:
R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

Then, the horizontal actuator loaded test specimens according to the

designed loading history under displacement control mode. It is note­

300
worthy that the vertical actuator has synchronous horizontal displace­
Column ment with the horizontal actuator during the loading process guided by
section the computer control system.
As shown in Fig. 9, three displacement cycles were applied at
each loading amplitude. Referring to previous studies on corroded RC
columns [15,28], a small loading amplitude of 2 mm, i.e. Δ1 = 2 mm,
B-B was adopted for the initial loading cycles. The following displace­
B B ment amplitudes are continuously increased by 2Δ1 until the end of
1350
the test. Since the structural behavior of specimens is not clear before
the tests and the initial loading amplitude is very small, the authors
C-FRCM

20
600

C-FRCM
15
A-A
10

Displacement (mm)
5
0
-5
Fig. 6. Strengthening of corroded circular RC columns.
-10
-15
(1)
′
N = n0 fc Ag
-20 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
where N is the applied AC load for test specimens, n0 is the AC ratio (i.e. Number of cycle
0.3 and 0.6), Ag and fc′ are the cross-section area of the specimen and the
compressive strength of concrete prism, respectively. Fig. 9. Loading history of cyclic test.

Fig. 7. Strengthening process.

Fig. 8. Test setup.

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R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

and L0-N6-C360), they failed by spalling of large area of concrete at the

base. For the specimens strengthened by C-FRCM, no significant spalling
of concrete was found, but concrete at the base of columns expanded
with the increasing drift amplitudes. Owing to the expansion effect of
concrete, the C-FRCM suffered from significant tensile stress. These
specimens failed by the rupture of CF mesh and slant and vertical cracks
distributed on the cementitious matrix. Fig. 13 shows the cracks on C-
FRCM at failure. The outer layer of the C-FRCM failed with many open
cracks. The rupture of the CF bundles can also be observed. However,
the cracks were found on the outer layer only, and no cracks extended to
the inner layers of the C-FRCM.

3.2. Load-displacement response

Fig. 10. Layout of measuring system.
adopted displacement control for the whole loading procedures with
a low loading speed of 5 mm/min. The test was ended when the
maximum capacity during a loading cycle dropped less than 85% of
the ultimate capacity of the specimen according to Chinese Code
(JGJ/T101-2015) [56].
Fig. 10 shows the displacement and strain measuring instrumentations
of the specimens. Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) was
adopted to measure the global and local deformations of the specimens. A
total of five LVDTs, T1 to T5, were distributed at different locations.
Strains of the concrete were monitored by the strain gauges. A total of ten
strain gauges, S1 to S10, were distributed at the bottom of the specimens.
To monitor the strain response of the CF mesh, a total of eighteen strain
gauges, H11 to H33 and V11 to V33, were distributed in the CF mesh to
measure the horizontal and vertical strains during the test, respectively
(Fig. 11).
3. Test results
3.1. Failure modes
Cracks development at the base was observed as the main failure
mode for all the specimens, as shown in Fig. 12. In particular, for
specimens without C-FRCM strengthening (i.e. L0-N3-C0, L0-N3-C360
The lateral load versus top displacement response of the test spec­
imens were obtained, as shown in Fig. 14. The specimen L0-N3-C0 was
a reference column without corrosion and strengthening. Compared
with the reference specimen, the hysteretic curves of corroded speci­
mens without strengthening (i.e. L0-N3-C360 and L0-N6-C360) were
pinched, and the strength degradation was rapid. In particular, the
corroded specimen without strengthening L0-N6-C360 failed at a drift
amplitude less than 2%. Meanwhile, the corroded columns repaired by
the C-FRCM system sustained more loading cycles and had plump
hysteretic curves than those without strengthening. In addition, the
strength of specimens was slightly increased with the increasing layers
of C-FRCM.
3.3. Ductility analysis
The skeleton curves of specimens with different AC ratio (i.e. 0.3 and
0.6) are shown in Fig. 15a and 15b, respectively. Each skeleton curve
was obtained from the hysteretic curve of the specimen by sequentially
connecting the maximum capacity value of the first cycle for every drift
amplitude. The skeleton curves can reflect the variation in stiffness,
strength and ductility during the loading process. Compared with the
uncorroded specimen L0-N3-C0, the corroded specimen L0-N3-C360 has
no significant degradation in secant stiffness at drift amplitudes less than
1%, while at drift amplitudes greater than 1%, its secant stiffness and
strength degraded rapidly. It is also found that the C-FRCM strengthened
specimens L2-N3-C360 and L3-N3-C360 have larger secant stiffness and
strength than the unstrengthened counterparts. The skeleton curves of
specimens with the AC ratio of 0.6 are shown in Fig. 15b. Compared with
the specimens with the AC ratio of 0.3 shown in Fig. 15a, the ultimate

Loading direction
150

V11 V13
H11 V12 H13 V11 V12 V13
H12 H11 H12 H13
200

V21 V23 Unfold

H21 V22 H23 V21 V22 V23
H22 H21 H22 H23
200

V31 V33
H31 V32 H33 V31 V32 V33
H32 H31 H32 H33
50

Fig. 11. Layout of strain gauges on CF mesh.

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R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

(a) L0-N3-C0

(b) L0-N3-C360 (c) L2-N3-C360 (d) L3-N3-C360

(e) L0-N6-C360 (f) L2-N6-C360 (g) L3-N6-C360

Fig. 12. Failure modes of test specimens.

drift ratio at failure was much reduced. The ductility factor is adopted as
follows:
Δu
μ= (2)
Δy
where Δy is the top displacement at yield, and Δu is the ultimate top
displacement at failure which can be obtained from the skeleton curve
directly.
Since the yield capacity/strength of test specimens cannot be
found from the hysteretic curve directly, a simplified method, namely
equivalent area method, is adopted to approximately determine the
capacity and displacement at yield. As shown in Fig. 16, the capacity
and displacement of point E on the skeleton curve is considered as the
yield capacity and yield displacement of the specimen, if the area of A-
D-C is equivalent to the area of C-F-O. Based on this method, the ca­
pacity and displacement at yield, as well as the ductility factor of test
specimens were obtained, as shown in Table 4. It is noteworthy that
the ductility factor of specimens with small AC ratio (i.e. 0.3) is much
higher than those with large AC ratio (i.e. 0.6). The effect of corrosion
on ductility is also significant. Specifically, the uncorroded specimen
without strengthening L0-N3-C0 has a ductility factor of 3.582, while
the corroded specimens without strengthening L0-N3-C360 and L0-
N6-C360 only have ductility factors of 2.778 and 2.590, which
degraded by 22.5% and 27.7%, respectively. It indicates that the
ductility of test specimens was deteriorated significantly due to the
corrosion damage, and the increasing AC ratio further reduced the
ductility. On the other hand, the ductility of corroded specimens with
strengthening is much more improved than those without strength­
ening. Specifically, the ductility of strengthened specimens can be as
high as 4.768 and 3.206 with the AC ratio of 0.3 and 0.6, which
increased by 43.0% and 23.8%, respectively, compared with those
without strengthening. Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that the ductility
of specimens strengthened with two layers of C-FRCM is slightly
higher than those with three layers of C-FRCM. It indicates that using
too many layers of C-FRCM may not improve the ductility of
strengthened specimens effectively.
3.4. Degradation of stiffness and strength
The damage accumulated in concrete and rebars continuously
during the loading process, and it resulted in the degradation phe­
nomenon of stiffness and strength for the test specimens. The secant
stiffness is often used to quantify the stiffness of structural members as
follows:

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R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

(a) L2-N3-C360 (b) L3-N3-C360

(c) L2-N6-C360 (d) L3-N6-C360

Fig. 13. Cracking of C-FRCM composites.

| + Fi | + | − Fi |
Ki = (3) +Fi
| + Δi | + | − Δi | λi = (4)
Fmax
where +Fi and –Fi are the positive and negative maximum loads in the
where λi is the strength degradation factor in the ith cycle, +Fi is the
ith cycle, respectively, +Δi and –Δi are the positive and negative
positive maximum load in the ith cycle, and Fmax is the positive ultimate
maximum displacements in the ith cycle, respectively.
load during the test.
Fig. 17 shows the variation of stiffness with loading amplitudes. Note
Fig. 18 shows the variation of strength with loading amplitudes.
that the loading displacement (Δi) was divided by the yield displacement
Compared with the uncorroded specimen L0-N3-C0, the strengths of
(Δy) to obtain dimensionless displacement, and thereby to facilitate the
corroded specimens without strengthening L0-N3-C360 and L0-N6-
comparison between the specimens with different yield displacements.
C360 degraded much earlier and sustained far less loading cycles. On
As shown in Fig. 17, test specimens strengthened by the C-FRCM possess
the contrary, the corroded specimens with strengthening have slighter
larger stiffness than those without strengthening. Moreover, the
strength degradation and sustained even more loading cycles than the
corroded specimen without strengthening L0-N3-C360 has smaller
uncorroded specimen. It indicates that the strength degradation induced
stiffness than the specimen without corrosion L0-N3-C0. In other words,
by the corrosion can be effectively restrained by the confinement effect
the corrosion also has a detrimental effect on the stiffness of RC columns.
provided by the C-FRCM.
This is mainly due to the cross-section loss of steel rebars and material
degradation of both concrete and steel rebars induced by the corrosion.
Under the AC ratio of 0.6, as shown in Fig. 17b, the specimens 3.5. Energy dissipation
strengthened by the C-FRCM possess slightly higher stiffness than those
without strengthening. In fact, the stiffness of all specimens degraded Under earthquakes, the seismic energy input in the structural system
more rapidly with such a large AC ratio than those with a small AC ratio can be dissipated by the plastic deformation of structural members. The
of 0.3. In addition, the specimens strengthened by two and three layers column base is one of the major regions that can concentrate plastic
of C-FRCM have no significant difference in the stiffness with different deformation and dissipate seismic energy. As shown in Fig. 19, the en­
values of AC ratio. The strength degradation factor is defined as follows: ergy dissipation of structural members is usually represented by the area

9
R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

90

Force (kN)
60

30

0
-4 -2 0 2 4
-30 Drift (%)

-60

-90
(a) L0-N3-C0
90 90 90

Force (kN)

Force (kN)
Force (kN)

60 60 60

30 30 30

0 0 0
-4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4
-30 Drift (%) -30 Drift (%) -30 Drift (%)

-60 -60 -60

-90 -90 -90

(b) L0-N3-C360 (c) L2-N3-C360 (d) L3-N3-C360
90 90 90
Force (kN)
Force (kN)

Force (kN)
60 60 60

30 30 30

0 0 0
-4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4
-30 Drift (%) -30 Drift (%) -30 Drift (%)

-60 -60 -60

-90 -90 -90

(e) L0-N6-C360 (f) L2-N6-C360 (g) L3-N6-C360

Fig. 14. Lateral force versus top drift ratio hysteretic curves.

of hysteretic loops, wherein ED is the energy dissipation in one cycle and
ES is the recoverable elastic strain energy. Fig. 20 shows the accumulated
energy dissipation of specimens with the increasing loading cycles. With
the AC ratio of 0.3, the corroded specimen without strengthening L0-N3-
C360 has much lower energy dissipation than the uncorroded counter­
part L0-N3-C0. Meanwhile, the corroded specimens strengthened by C-
FRCM have very close energy dissipation with those without corrosion
prior to failure. With the AC ratio of 0.6, the accumulated energy
dissipation of specimens is much lower than those with the AC ratio of
0.3. Table 4 also lists the total energy dissipation (TED) of all specimens,
and it shows that the TED of specimens with small AC ratio (i.e. 0.3) is
much higher than those with large AC ratio (i.e. 0.6). On the other hand,
the uncorroded specimen without strengthening L0-N3-C0 has a TED of
28068.7 kN⋅m, while the corroded specimens without strengthening L0-
N3-C360 and L0-N6-C360 only have the TED of 24777.5 and 9414.6
kN⋅m, which degraded by 11.7% and 66.5%, respectively. In other
words, the TED of RC columns were reduced due to the corrosion, and
the increasing AC ratio further reduced the TED. The TED of the
corroded specimens with strengthening is much more improved than
those without strengthening. Specifically, the TED of strengthened

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R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

Fig. 15. Skeleton curves of test specimens.

specimens can be as high as 39781.6 and 23362.1 kN⋅m with the AC

ratio of 0.3 and 0.6, which increased by 60.6% and 148.2%, respec­
tively, compared with those without strengthening. It is noteworthy that
the TED of specimens strengthened by three layers of C-FRCM is 39781.6
and 23362.1 kN⋅m with the AC ratio of 0.3 and 0.6, which increased by
31.8% and 21.7%, respectively, compared with those strengthened by
two layers of C-FRCM.

3.6. Analysis of strain in the CF mesh

As shown in Fig. 11, the horizontal and vertical strains in the

Fig. 16. Illustration of equivalent yield displacement. innermost CF mesh are monitored by the strain gauges. There are three
rows of strain gauges in the CF mesh. The top row of strain gauges are

Table 4
Yield strength and displacement, ductility and energy dissipation of test specimens.
Specimen Capacity at yield (kN) Displacement at yield (mm) Maximum displacement (mm) Ductility coefficient Energy dissipation (kN⋅m)

L0-N3-C0 55.54 10.805 38.700 3.582 28068.7

L0-N3-C360 54.62 10.867 30.190 2.778 24777.5
L2-N3-C360 62.69 9.200 43.870 4.768 30195.6
L3-N3-C360 70.15 9.450 40.140 4.248 39781.6
L0-N6-C360 57.52 7.575 19.621 2.590 9414.6
L2-N6-C360 72.36 8.076 25.891 3.206 19202.7
L3-N6-C360 76.68 9.015 28.573 3.169 23362.1

11
R. Feng et al.
Fig. 17. Variation of stiffness with loading amplitues.
labelled as H11 to H13 from left to right. The middle and bottom rows of
strain gauges are labelled as H21 to H23 and H31 to H33, respectively.
The maximum strain in horizontal carbon fibers of strengthened speci­
mens is listed in Table 5. In particular, H1* represents the maximum
strain among H11, H12 and H13, H2* represents the maximum strain
among H21, H22 and H23, H3* represents the maximum strain among
H31, H32 and H33. H* represents the maximum strain among H1*, H2*
and H3*. It is known from the previous study [22] that the confinement
effect for RC column wrapped by CF mesh is very significant. Since the
strengthened specimens failed at rupture of outermost layer of CF mesh,
the maximum horizontal strain in the innermost CF mesh εmax usually
did not attain its rupture strain εf. To quantify the utilization level of CF
mesh, an utilization rate is defined as follows:
εmax
αv = (5)
εf
where εf can be obtained from the test results as listed in Table 3 (i.e.
1.134%). The utilization rates of all the specimens are listed in Table 5. It
showed that utilization rates of CF mesh in all the specimens were about
12
Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311
28%.
Since many strain gauges failed during the corrosion process and at
early loading stage, we only present the envelope of vertical strain re­
sults of innermost CF mesh of L2-N3-C360 and L2-N6-C360 to demon­
strate the variation of vertical strain, as shown in Fig. 21. Note that V21
to V23 are the vertical strain results of the middle row strain gauges, as
shown in Fig. 11. The vertical strains of V21 and V23 are much larger
than that of V22, because V21 and V23 are in the cyclic loading plane,
which would be subjected to the maximum compression and tension.
While, V22 is in neutral plane, which is subjected to small compression
or tension only.
4. Conclusions
This study presents an experimental investigation on the seismic
behavior of corroded RC columns strengthened by C-FRCM. To this end,
cyclic loading tests were conducted on corroded circular RC columns
with and without C-FRCM strengthening. The following conclusions can
R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

Fig. 18. Variation of strength with loading amplitudes.

be drawn:

(1). The C-FRCM system can enhance the ductility, stiffness, strength
and energy dissipation performance of corroded circular RC
columns, owing to its confinement to the column base.
(2). Compared with using three layers of C-FRCM, strengthening
approach using two layers of C-FRCM has similar effect on
improving the stiffness, strength and ductility, and slightly lower
effect on improving the energy dissipation performance.
(3). Large AC ratio has detrimental effects on the ductility, stiffness,
strength and energy dissipation performance of corroded RC
columns. A design AC ratio less than 0.6 is highly recommended
for RC columns that may be subjected to severe corrosion.
(4). The effect of the strengthening is more evident for low values of
AC ratio. For AC ratio of 0.6, limited differences between the Fig. 19. Definition of energy dissipation ED and ES.
unstrengthened and the strengthened specimens are observed in
terms of secant stiffness and energy dissipation. Note that the C-
Declaration of Competing Interest
FRCM has excellent corrosion resistance, and therefore, the pro­
posed strengthening technique is quite suitable for strengthening
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
corroded RC members with low to medium AC ratio in corrosive
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
environments.

13
R. Feng et al. Engineering Structures 226 (2021) 111311

Fig. 20. Cumulative energy dissipation.

Table 5
Maximum strain in horizontal carbon fibers of strengthened specimens.
Specimen Maximum strain H1* (με) Maximum strain H2* (με) Maximum strain H3* (με) Maximum strain H* (με) Utilization rate αv (%)

L2-N3-C360 253 1520 3799 3799 33.5

L3-N3-C360 541 891 3277 3277 28.9
L2-N6-C360 700 946 3144 3144 27.7
L3-N6-C360 961 1264 2648 2648 28.1

2000 4000
V21 V21
V22 V22
V23 V23
1500 3000
)
)

Strain (
Strain (

1000 2000

500 1000

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3
Drift (%) Drift (%)

(a) L2-N3-C360 (b) L2-N6-C360

Fig. 21. Vertical strains of CF mesh.

14
R. Feng et al.
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the financial support from Key-Area
Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province, China
(Grant No. 2019B111107002), National Key Research and Development
Program of China, China (Grant No. 2018YFE0124900), National Nat­
ural Science Foundation of China, China (Grant Nos. 51538007/
51778370/51861165204), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong
Province, China (Grant Nos. 2018A030313208/2017B030311004),
State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, China (South
China University of Technology, China, Grant No. 2018ZA02), and
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Durability for Marine Civil
Engineering, Shenzhen Durability Center for Civil Engineering, China
(Shenzhen University, China, Grant No. GDDCE 18-5).
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