CONFINEMENT CAPACITY OF SQUARE AND CIRCULAR CONCRETE COLUMNS REINFORCED WITH PREFABRICATED CAGE REINFORCEMENT SYSTEM
Prefabricated Cage System (PCS) is introduced as a new steel reinforcement system that can be used in reinforced concrete members. PCS is expected to perform as an integral system performing the functions of both longitudinal and lateral reinforcement. The proposed system is anticipated to be a superior alternative to the existing reinforcement systems in reinforced concrete members, most notably in beams and columns. PCS is fabricated by perforating hollow steel tubes or steel plates. Various methods could be used to fabricate PCS reinforcement such as; punching, cutting methods, and casting. PCS reinforcement is prefabricated off site and then placed inside the formwork eliminating the time consuming and costly labor associated with cutting, bending, and tying steel bars in traditional rebar construction. PCS can be used to reinforce almost any kind of concrete member which involves reinforcement and concrete. In this paper, six concrete columns reinforced by rebar, steel tube, and PCS of square and circular geometry are compared. It was observed that, PCS provided higher confinement to concrete than rebar reinforcement and Concrete Filled Steel Tubes (CFST)