Quadrilateral RAC filled FRP tubes: Compressive behavior, design and finite element models

The need for carbon neutrality in the world strives the construction industry to reduce the use of construction materials. Aiming to this, recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) could be used as it reduces the carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, RAC is mainly used in non-structural members of civil constructions, seldom used in structural members. To broaden its structural use, a new type of composite column, i.e., the square and rectangular RAC filled FRP tubes (CFFTs), has been concerned in this study. The investigation on their axial compressive behavior through physical test and numerical analysis demonstrated that the load-carrying capacity of such column is reduced with the increase of replacement ratio of recycled aggregate and aspect ratio of section but can be improved by the increase of FRP confining stiffness and corner radius, said capacity can be equivalent to their steel reinforced concrete counterparts. At failure, the hoop strain at corner of tube is unexpectedly smaller than that at flat side of the tube although the FRP tube ruptured at its corner first, revealing a premature failure. Besides, a design-oriented stress-strain model of concrete and an analysis-oriented finite element model are proposed to predict the load-strain response of square and rectangular CFFT columns, which facilitates the engineering use of RAC in loadcarrying structural members.