Behaviour of wrapped hsc columns under eccentric loads

With the technology development on the compressive strength of concrete over the years, the use of high strength concrete has proved most popular in terms of economy, superior strength, stiffness and durability due to many advantages it could offer. However, strength and ductility are inversely proportional. High strength concrete is a brittle material causing failure to be quite sudden and ‘explosive’ under loads. It is also known that true axial compression of structural concrete columns (axially compressed) rarely occurs in practice. The stress concentrations caused by the eccentric loading further reduce the strength and ductility of high strength concrete. This paper presents results of testing eccentrically loaded columns externally wrapped with different types of materials. The experimental results show that external reinforcement can enhance the properties of high strength concrete columns.