Author(s)

A. G. Tsonos

Abstract

In this study a new innovative method of earthquake-resistant strengthening of reinforced concrete structures is presented for the first time. Strengthening according to this new method consists of the construction of steel fiber highstrength concrete jackets without conventional reinforcement, which is usually, applied in the construction of conventional reinforced concrete jackets (i.e. longitudinal reinforcement, stirrups, hoops). The proposed in this study new innovative steel fiber high-strength or ultra high-strength concrete jackets were proved to be much more effective than the reinforced concrete jackets and the FRP-jackets when used for the earthquake-resistant strengthening of reinforced concrete structural members. Keywords: steel fiber high-strength concrete, reinforced concrete jackets, beamcolumn joints, columns, cyclic loads. 1 Introduction Damage incurred by earthquakes over the years has indicated that many reinforced concrete (R/C) buildings, designed and constructed during the 1960s and 1970s, were found to have serious structural deficiencies today. These deficiencies are mainly due to lack of capacity design approach and/or poor detailing of the reinforcement. As a result, lateral strength and ductility of these structures were minimal and hence some of them collapsed [1–3]. One of the most popular pre-and post-earthquake retrofitting methods for columns, beamcolumn joints and walls is the use of reinforced concrete jacketing. In retrofitting

Keywords

steel fiber high-strength concrete, reinforced concrete jackets, beamcolumn joints, columns, cyclic loads.