INFLUENCE OF STEEL BARS FOR EXTERNAL CONFINEMENT ON COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE

This paper examines the possible influence of external confinement on concrete by utilizing traditional steel bars. The test specimens were concrete cubes of 150 mm in size. Steel bars were bent and mounted surrounding the surface perimeter of the concrete cube, just like a belt. The diameters of steel bars were 6 and 8 mm. The belt was made of a steel bar and connected with a steel long nut. The results obtained from this investigation was the cubes confined externally with 8-mm diameter of steel bars had higher compressive strength than cube without external confinement. Spacing between the steel bars is affected by the concrete strengths compared with those using the smaller diameter of steel bars (6 mm). The closer the spacing of the steel bars, the higher the strength of the concrete cubes. The long nut provided a stronger connection than the steel bars. Thus, the application of these traditional steel bars as an external confining system for a possible future retrofitting method is recommended since it performed a significant contribution in providing effective confinement to concrete and further enhancing its compressive strength.