Effect of compression casting method on the axial compressive behavior of FRP-confined seawater sea-sand concrete columns

The application of the novel compression casting method is beneficial to improve the compressive strength and durability of concrete. However, the compressed concrete fails rapidly after the peak load and exhibits stronger brittleness than the normal concrete, which could impair the seismic performance of the columns. As one of the passive confining measures, wrapping fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) could be a practical technique to improve the ductility of such brittle columns. In this regard, this study experimentally investigated the axial compression behavior of both the partially and fully FRP-confined compression-cast seawater sea-sand concrete (SSC) columns. The test results indicated that the compression casting method enhanced the compressive strength but weakened the axial deformation capacity of the unconfined and FRP-confined SSC specimens. The compressive strength of unconfined concrete was improved by 38.5% due to compression casting. The measured average FRP rupture strain of the FRP-confined compression-cast SSC specimens was 6.3% smaller than that of FRP-confined normal SSC specimens due to the sudden appearance of the main oblique cracks, indicating poorer FRP utilization efficiency. Meanwhile, the average ultimate axial strain enhancement ratio of FRP-confined SSC specimens decreased from 12.04 to 7.83 after compression casting. The FRP hoop strain of the fully FRP-wrapped columns distributed more uniformly compared to the partially FRP-wrapped columns as the mean value of FRP efficiency factor increased from 0.807 to 0.928. With increasing FRP strip spacing, the post-peak segment of the stress–strain curve transferred from strain-hardening to strain-softening regardless of the confining stiffness. Finally, several existing stress–strain models were employed to examine their accuracy in anticipating the ultimate conditions of the FRP-confined compression-cast SSC columns.