Flexural strengthening of old‐type RC columns with near surface mounted GFRP or steel bars

The old-type RC buildings constructed before 1970s are mostly designed according to gravity loads and lack seismic detailing. In these buildings, the strong column-weak beam concept is not usually observed, and due to the probability of soft-storey event, they are vulnerable to seismic loads. Therefore, the flexural strengthening of the columns is proposed as one of the top priorities in seismic retrofitting of these buildings. This paper experimentally studies the flexural strengthening of old-type RC columns with near surface mounted (NSM) technique. Six half-scale columns, including two control columns and four columns strengthened via NSM method with GFRP and steel bars, were tested under constant axial load and increasing lateral load; the effect of strengthening method and materials were also investigated. The mean flexural strength and energy dissipation capacity of the strengthened columns with GFRP bars increased respectively by 62% and 46% compared to corresponding control columns; but the equivalent hysteresis damping of these columns did not have a substantial increase. In addition, the mean flexural strength, energy dissipation capacity, and equivalent hysteresis damping of the strengthened columns with steel bars increased respectively by 86%, 197%, and 104% compared to the corresponding control columns. The results indicate that NSM technique remarkably increases the flexural strength and improves the seismic parameters of columns, especially when steel bar are used as NSM reinforcement.