The behavior of steel beam to circular concrete column connections strengthened by CFRP sheets

In this paper, the behavior of connection of steel beams to circular concrete columns is investigated analytically and experimentally. In the experimental part, two exterior connections of steel beam to circular concrete column (RCS) are tasted. In the first specimen, based on the design guide of composite structures (ASCE 1994), transvers reinforcement in the column with the minimum spacing of 25mm is used to prevent compressive failure of concrete at the top and bottom of the steel beam. In the second specimen, the spacing of transvers reinforcement in the column at the top and bottom of the beam increased to 75mm which is the maximum allowable value in columns. Moreover, for strengthening the column at the top and bottom of the beam, carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets are used. The experimental and analytical results show that the connections of both specimens are ductile and have great strength in high drift .The reinforcement of the second specimen using CFRP sheets improves the ultimate strength by 13%. Also, the ductility of the reinforced specimen is increased. As a result, the use of FRP sheets can be good alternatives for complex connections of steel beams to concrete columns. Also, both experimental specimens were modeled by Abaqus software, and the load- displacement relationships of the specimens were obtained and compared with the test results. The comparison shows that the analytical model can predict the behavior of the connections, appropriately.