Experimental Investigation of Concrete Columns Enhanced by PVC Tubes

Abstract An experimental investigation of PVC-concrete columns is presented to assess the efficiency of using PVC tube for enhancing strength and ductility of PVC-concrete columns. Study was conducted to assess provided PVC casing confinement mechanism efficiency for enhancing strength and ductility of considered PVC- concrete columns. To investigate the composite mechanism and confining mechanism of the PVC tube, fabricated specimens are tested under uniaxial compression loading in two modes of load application; composite mode and confining mode. The results showed that the composite mode columns exhibit more strength improving than those of confining mode. The upgrading rate in sustained loading resistance of composite mode columns varied from 2.25 to 1.56, while it was 2.07 to 1.55 for confining mode columns. The same comparison is entirely reversed in scope of ductility, where confining mode columns exhibited more axial and lateral deformations than the corresponding composite mode columns. The results are normalized in term of radial stress (fr ) and concrete compressive strength (f’ e ), determined enhanced confined concrete strength (f’ ee ) could be used to predicate plastic capacity of columns of different mechanism.