Behaviour of concrete beam–column connections reinforced with hybrid FRP sheet

Modelling complex concrete column–beam connection with hybrid fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) reinforcement properly requires understanding of the behaviour of such component and supporting from some experimental data for model updating and refinement. This paper, through a comprehensive experimental work, investigates the behaviour of reinforced concrete frame specimens designed to represent the column–beam connections in plane frames. As a follow-up to the previous reported work, it focuses on details of experimental analyses, in particular, a comprehensive strain analysis. Results of the analysis show that designed hybrid FRP reinforcement greatly improve the stiffness and load carrying capacity of its concrete counterpart. It also delays the crack initiation at the joint through confinement due to FRP reinforcement.