Improving the compressive strength of lightweight cylindrical concrete column with basalt fiber reinforced polymer acting under imposed load

Relevance. The brittleness of lightweight concrete has developed concern among structural engineers. This concern led to the search on how to improve the strength of lightweight concrete and still retain the weight lightness. Researches are ongoing to solve the strength challenges noticed in lightweight concrete, but at the moment there are few works on solving the issues regarding expanded clay concrete, thus it served as a motivation for studying this issue. The aim of the work is to analyze the effects of basalt fiber polymers on lightweight expanded clay concrete columns acting under imposed loads. Methods. To achieve this process, a total number of nine expanded clay cylindrical concrete columns were experimentalized and analyzed. 1.6 % of dispersed chopped basalt fiber was used in the concrete mixture which serves as reinforcement. Also, basalt fiber mesh was used in the experimental analysis. Results. The expanded clay cylindrical column without basalt fiber polymer withstood strength up to 19.6 tons at 58 minutes, the column with dispersed chopped basalt fiber withstood strength up to 26.67 tons at 61 minutes while the column with dispersed chopped basalt fiber and basalt mesh confinement got destroyed at 29 tons at 64 minutes. The results show that lightweight expanded clay cylindrical columns confined with basalt fiber mesh withstood higher load compared to the columns with just dispersed chopped basalt fiber and without it.