Experimental and Analytical Study on the Structural Performance of RC Frame Strengthened with High Energy Dissipating Concrete Jacket

Nowadays, many researches are focused on investigating rubberized concrete as a structural material due to its enhanced properties such as ductility, energy dissipation and damping ratio and its role in the sustainability development by recycling nonbiodegradable waste and reducing the amount of natural aggregates in concrete mixture. However, its performance in retrofitting is still unclear and need to be addressed in order to be implemented in the construction activities. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to investigate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings strengthened using rubberized concrete jackets under severe earthquake excitations. As part of the study, laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the properties of high-performance self-compacting rubberized concrete mixes with various rubber contents. Furthermore, a reinforced concrete finite element models retrofitted with these concrete mixes were analyzed using nonlinear response history analysis to examine its performance in comparison to control models. The results of this experimental work showed that there is indeed a significant drop in the mechanical properties of concrete will there is a considerable improvement in the damping ratio this improvement affected in the energy dissipation of the structural building where it contributed to increasing the damping energy and reducing the hysteretic one.