Parametric Investigation Using Finite Element Analysis on Number of FRP Confinement Layers for Optimum Compressive Strength of Tin Slag Polymer Concrete Column

Abstract

Tin slag polymer concrete (TSPC) is a recent progress in Polymer Concrete (PC) material which is composed of finely graded tin slag (TS) particles (<1mm) and Unsaturated Polyester Resin (UPR) with 1% Methyl Ethene Ketone Peroxide (MEKP). This study was performed to suggest the optimum number of GFRP and CFRP confinement layers on the TSPC core column for optimum compressive strength enhancement. Compression test on TSPC column samples consisting of unconfined TSPC, one and two layers of GFRP and CFRP confined TSPC shows strength measurements of 49.58 MPa, 85.48 MPa, 88.37 MPa, 108.77 MPa, and 132.52 MPa. Then a parametric study through the FEM model was performed to simulate the effect of FRP confinement on TSPC with the addition of FRP confinement layers to up to four layers. Results indicated that for both GFRP and CFRP confinement on TSPC column up to four layers, the percentage of strength enhancement was, for GFRP, 55.56 %, 82.47 %, 193.96 %, and 193.32 %, while, for CFRP, 85.27 %, 122.61 %, 177.81 %, and 151.65 %. For validation, a comparison has been made with an experimental result and data from literature which presents the effect of multiple layers of CFRP confinement on the TSPC column. Both the optimisation through parametric study and literature have provided a good match in a number of FRP confinement layers for optimum compressive strength enhancement of the TSPC column. For conclusion, three layers of FRP confinement was described as the most optimum number of FRP layers on the TSPC column for maximum performance.