Seismic performance of non-ductile RC frames strengthened with CFRP

Abstract To study the seismic performance of non-ductile reinforced concrete (RC) frames strengthened with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), two 1/2-scale, 2-bay, 2-story RC frames were prepared and tested under combined axial load and cyclic lateral load. One of the RC frames served as a control specimen (bare specimen) and the other was strengthened with CFRP sheets (strengthened specimen) at its joint regions. Based on the hysteretic curves, the envelop curves, and several important indexes (e.g., strength, stiffness, ductility, energy dissipation capacity) of the two specimens, the performance of the employed seismic strengthening technique in improving the seismic performance of RC frames was discussed in detail. The experimental results indicated that the externally bonded CFRP reinforcement had little influence on the lateral stiffness of the RC frame. While the lateral strength of the strengthened RC frame increased by about 20% compared to the control RC frame. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the energy dissipation capacity of the strengthened RC frame is as much as 3.01 times that of the control RC frame. The test results of the current study indicate that the employed strengthening method can substantially improve the seismic performance of the strengthened RC frames.