Investigation of Mesh Size Effect on FRP Confined Concrete Column Simulation Using Finite Element Analysis

This paper investigates the mesh size effect on the results of computer modeling of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) confined concrete. Infinite element analysis, mesh sensitivity or density is a critical issue that relates to the accuracy of the finite element models while directly determining their level of complexity. FRP confined concrete has found increasingly wide application in construction industry due to its high strength to weight ratio and high corrosion resistance factor. In marine industry, current practice shows that composite materials are already being used in a number of marine structures such as high and low-pressure tubing, bridge and jetty as well as accommodation modules for offshore structures. In this study, a finite element analysis (FEA) of circular reinforced concrete (RC) columns fully wrapped with FRP with a size of 300 mm in length and diameter of 150 mm is generated using the ABAQUS software. The thickness of 2 mm FRP layer has been constructed as confinement to the solid concrete body. Concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) and concrete smeared cracking (CSC) approaches had been applied to analyze and predict the non-linear behavior of FRP confined concrete models. During the simulation process, three mesh setups have been used (5, 3, and 2 mm) in order to get the accurate FEA result for the model. Normally, the FE model provides fair accurate numerical results and is close to the experimental data. The results from the analysis are compared with available experimental data to validate the model. The result will be presented in terms of stress-strain relationships. Finally, the differences of the result between mesh of 2, 3, and 5 mm will be determined and discussed.