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Abstract
The issue of upgrading the existing civil engineering infrastructure has been one of great importance over a decade. Deterioration of bridge decks, beams, girders and columns, building, parking structures and others may be attributed to ageing, environmentally induced degradation, poor initial design and or construction, lack of maintenance & to accidental events such as earthquakes. Exiting reinforcement concrete columns may require strengthening for a variety of reasons. For example it is likely that the loading on a column might increase over and above the design load, as when a bridge must cater to increased traffic or when a building must be used for purpose other then those for which it was originally designed. In such cases, it may also be necessary to strengthen columns as per new code requirements. Strengthening may also be required because of damage to the structure as a result of environmental degradation. Strengthening of columns represents an engineering problem, involves several solutions each having their own advantages and disadvantages and their own limits to applicability and practicality for instance it is possible to remove deficient columns and construct new ones in their place. Another solution is to place reinforcing steel and form work around a columns and pour additional concrete. Traditionally steel has been used to jacket R.C columns, nut recently fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has been a viable alternative to steel in some application. Substantial progress has been made over the past decade in the use of composites in the construction industries, which includes the introduction of various confinement techniques that are, it has potential solution to replace or be used to complement conventional steel reinforcement to the problems associated with corrosion and deterioration of the infrastructures.