Experimental investigation on confinement of columns with TRC: a comparison between basalt and carbon textile fabrics

The use of Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) is a promising solution in the confinement of RC columns. Based on an experimental campaign on 15 short cylindrical RC columns, this work aims to get a better understanding about the performance of basalt textile in the confinement of short RC columns by comparing basalt and carbon TRC. Furthermore, the impact of mixing short steel fibers in the TRC concrete matrix (F/TRC) is investigated. The test results show that columns confined with basalt textile and carbon textile are, in terms of strength and, to some extent, post-elastic behaviour, comparable. Basalt textile seems to be a valid alternative to carbon, without significant loss of performance, and it provides less environmental impact. Columns reinforced with F/TRC show that adding 2.5 Vol.-% of short steel fibers has a beneficial effect in the confinement.