Bond between Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Tubes and Sea Water Sea Sand Concrete: Mechanisms and Effective Parameters: Critical Overview and Discussion

Using fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) in construction avoids corrosion issues associated with the use of traditional steel reinforcement, while seawater and sea sand concrete (SWSSC) reduces environmental issues and resource shortages caused by the production of traditional concrete. The paper gives an overview of the current research on the bond performance between FRP tube and concrete with particular focus on SWSSC. The review follows a thematic broad-to-narrow approach. It reflects on the current research around the significance and application of FRP and SWSSC and discusses important issues around the bond strength and cyclic behaviour of tubular composites. A review of recent studies of bond strength between FRP and concrete and steel and concrete under static or cyclic loading using pushout tests is presented. In addition, the influence of different parameters on the pushout test results are summarised. Finally, recommendations for future studies are proposed.

Compressive Behavior and Analytical Model of Ultra-Early Strength Concrete-Filled FRP Tube With Zero Curing Time

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) has been widely used in civil engineering due to its light weight, high strength, convenient construction, and strong corrosion resistance. One of the important applications of FRP composites is the concrete-filled FRP tube (CFFT), which can greatly improve the compressive strength and ductility of concrete as well as facilitate construction. In this article, the compressive performances of a normal concrete-filled FRP tube (N-CFFT) column with 5-hour curing time and an ultra-early strength concrete-filled FRP tube (UES–CFFT) column with zero curing time were studied by considering the characteristics of rapid early strength improvement of ultra-early strength concrete and the confinement effect of the FRP tube. Monotonic axial compression tests were carried out on 3 empty FRP tubes (FTs) without an internal filler and 6 CFFT (3 N-CFFTs and 3 UES-CFFTs) specimens. All specimens were cylinders of 200 mm in diameter and 600 mm in height, confined by glass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP). Test results indicated that the compressive bearing capacity of the specimens increased significantly by adopting the ultra-early strength concrete as the core concrete of the CFFT, although the curing time was zero. It was also shown that the compressive behavior of the UES–CFFT specimens with zero curing time increased significantly than that of the N-CFFT specimens with 5-hour curing time because the former was able to achieve rapid strength enhancement in a very short time than the latter. The ultimate compressive strength of UES–CFFT specimens with zero curing time reached 78.3 MPa, which was 66.2 and 97.2% higher than that of N-CFFT with 5-hour curing time and FT specimens, respectively. In addition, a simple confinement model to predict the strength of UES–CFFT with zero curing time in ultimate condition was introduced. Compared with the existing models, the proposed model could predict the ultimate strength of UES–CFFT specimens with zero curing time with better accuracy.

Bending and Shear Behaviour of Waste Rubber Concrete-Filled FRP Tubes with External Flanges

An innovative beam concept made from hollow FRP tube with external flanges and filled with crumbed rubber concrete was investigated with respect to bending and shear. The performance of the rubberised-concrete-filled specimens was then compared with hollow and normal-concrete-filled tubes. A comparison between flanged and non-flanged hollow and concrete-filled tubes was also implemented. Moreover, finite element simulation was conducted to predict the fundamental behaviour of the beams. The results showed that concrete filling slightly improves bending performance but significantly enhances the shear properties of the beam. Adding 25% of crumb rubber in concrete marginally affects the bending and shear performance of the beam when compared with normal-concrete-filled tubes. Moreover, the stiffness-to-FRP weight ratio of a hollow externally flanged round tube is equivalent to that of a concrete-filled non-flanged round tube. The consideration of the pair-based contact surface between an FRP tube and infill concrete in linear finite element modelling predicted the failure loads within a 15% margin of difference.