Use of FRCM Composites for Confinement of Concrete and Masonry Structures: Assessment of Compressive Strength

Fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) composites have emerged as a viable solution for the external confinement of concrete and masonry members. However, what still discourages the use of these composites in the civil engineering field is the lack of analytical models capable of estimating the compressive strength of FRCM confined members with appreciable accuracy. This paper contributes to filling this knowledge gap by presenting a summary of the analytical study performed by the authors at the University of Salerno on the compressive strength of masonry and concrete members confined by FRCM systems. Two large databases including, respectively, results of compression tests on masonry and concrete members wrapped with FRCM systems were compiled from the literature and adopted with the aim to propose suitable strength models. The accuracy of these models is examined through a comparison with existing formulae published in some international guidelines.