Piles are generally used to transmit vertical loads to the ground. A new trend in foundation is to use a fiber reinforced polymer composite materials as a substitute in piling system. This experimental study presents the performance of FRP wrapping and unconfined piles subjected to vertical loads. Three RC piles with various surfaces were cast with the same reinforcement details to study the behavior of RC piles with fiber reinforced polymers under vertical loading conditions. The parameters that are varied in this investigation are wrapping materials (which include Glass, carbon, Aramid, basalt, polypropylene fiber reinforced polymers) and orientation of fiber (along the length and circumference).

Keywords : Fiber Reinforced polymer, warping material, soil characteristic, direct shear test, pile load test.