Study on axial compressive behavior and mesoscopic structural evolution of FRP confined coal gangue concrete

Abstract

To address the environmental hazards caused by coal gangue waste, coal gangue concrete (CGC) has been proposed as a solution. However, due to its porosity and low strength, CGC faces numerous challenges in practical applications. To further improve its performance, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) material was introduced to confine it. In this study, the PFC3D-FLAC3D coupling analysis method was employed to simulate the uniaxial compression test of FRP confined coal gangue concrete specimens. The influence of different FRP types (GFRP, CFRP, BFRP) and coal gangue replacement rates (0%, 50%, 100%) on the axial compression performance of coal gangue concrete columns was analyzed. Based on the indoor uniaxial compression test of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) confined coal gangue concrete, the modeling and calibration of coal gangue concrete columns confined by different FRP sheets were conducted. The strength variation and microstructure evolution mechanism of coal gangue concrete specimens confined by three kinds of FRP were discussed. The results indicated that the numerical model is highly accurate and consistent with existing experiments. The type of FRP significantly influences the confinement effect on coal gangue concrete specimens. As the coal gangue replacement rate increases, both the strength and elastic modulus of the specimens decrease. The difference of the spatial distribution of strong contact number and strong contact force reflect the microscopic manifestation of the macroscopic strength. The crack evolution of FRP confined coal gangue concrete went through three stages during uniaxial compression. This study is of great significance for selecting the appropriate type of FRP confinement for concrete under different coal gangue replacement rates.