Performance of high-strength concrete as jacket material in strengthening applications

A major advantage of high-strength concrete (HSC) is the reduction in size of members in a reinforced concrete building. The present research examines the application of HSC as a jacketing material to increase the shear strength of columns. Self-compacting concrete of two different strengths (high and normal) was used to jacket twelve shear-critical beam-column specimens. The details of specimen preparation, tests and results are discussed in this paper. It was observed that the use of HSC is suitable for increasing the shear capacity of columns with thin jackets, with improvement in dowel action of the added longitudinal bars and diagonal crushing strength of the concrete. There was no undesirable increase in stiffness as compared to the specimens jacketed with normal-strength concrete.