Seismic response of RC short columns strengthened by high-strength stainless steel wire rope meshes reinforced ECC jacket

A novel strengthening scheme of high-strength stainless steel wire rope (HSSSWR) meshes reinforced engineering cementitious composite (ECC) jacket was used to strengthen the reinforced concrete (RC) short columns in this paper. The seismic performance of short columns after being strengthened was investigated, considering the changes in the strengthening scheme, and the spacing of lateral HSSSWRs. The failure mode, hysteresis behavior, envelope curve, ductility, energy dissipation, stiffness degradation, and strength degradation were introduced specifically based on the analysis of six full-scale short columns. The test results show a significant enhancement in the seismic performance of the strengthened short columns, especially in ductility and energy dissipation, which were increased by 49.4–98.4 %, and 149.3–713.2 %, respectively. The placement of HSSSWRs in ECC jacket proved to be effective in enhancing the strengthening effect of the jacket. A prediction model for the shear capacity of the strengthened columns was proposed using the Modified Compression Field Theory (MCFT), and the predicted results were in good agreement with the test results presented in this paper and in relative study. •The RC short columns were strengthened by different ECC jacket and corresponding cyclic loading tests were conducted.•The influence of different ECC jackets on seismic improvement of short columns was revealed.•The prediction model based on the MCFT was proposed to predict the shear capacity of strengthened columns.