| This research presents a contribution towards a better understanding of seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete columns and their upgrade with glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) jackets, through tests performed on near full-scale specimens. Eight specimens were tested under lateral cyclic excursions while subjected to constant axial loads. Four of the eight specimens consisted of 356-mm diameter circular cross-section columns, while the other four had 305 x 305-mm square cross section columns. All the eight specimens had 1473-mm long columns connected to 508 x 762 x 813-mm. stubs that represented a footing or beam-column joint region.; Retrofitting with GFRP resulted in a significant enhancement in ductility, energy dissipation, shear and moment capacities of deficient specimens. It was concluded that GFRP can be used effectively to strengthen and upgrade deficient columns detailed with lap splices such that their behaviour under simulated earthquake loads matches or exceeds the performance of columns designed under various earthquake code provisions. |
