effect of frp strengthening on the shs brace collapse mechanism

During an earthquake diagonal braces are designed to dissipate energy by yielding in tension and buckling in compression. however, local buckling occurring in the middle of the brace leads to immediate fracture. with the aim of strengthening braces against local buckling, wrapping frp sheets in transverse direction is proposed in this study. hitherto, the effect of frp strengthening on the post-buckling behaviour of square hollow section (shs) tubes has not been investigated. a numerical model was generated and verified by previous research. then, a comprehensive parametric study was conducted and the effect of slenderness ratio, number of frp layers and frp coverage percentage on post-buckling response of strengthening brace was explored within the study. results indicate that utilising frp is certainly successful at mitigating local buckling mode of long shs braces moreover, for short braces, applying enough numbers of frp layers can change the mode of buckling from local to overall. finally, an optimized length of frp was suggested for strengthening of braces in accordance with their slenderness ratio.