Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) are commonly used to repair and/or retrofit concrete andmasonry structures. However, compared to concrete and masonry structures the use of FRP forretrofitting steel structures, particularly members such as steel columns and connections, has beenlimited. This paper investigates a novel retrofit technique to strengthen I-shaped steel columns, through aset of experimental tests on short columns. The proposed retrofit technique involves wrapping the steelcolumn with FRP and filling the voids between the FRP and steel with concrete. In this study, the fiberreinforcement is oriented in the lateral direction to confine the concrete core. Experimental findingsincluding increased load carrying capacity, stiffness and ductility confirm the effectiveness of thisproposed technique. A finite element model was developed to analyze the response behaviour of a steelcolumn retrofitted using this proposed technique. Stress distribution contours determined from the finiteelement analysis of the columns show the unique confinement mechanism.
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