Concrete columns are among the essential elements of structures, as they transfer loads from beams and slabs to the foundations. With the advancement of construction technologies, engineering studies have turned to simple and economical ways to improve the performance of concrete columns, including the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes to confine the concrete and improve its behavior under axial loads. When a concrete column is loaded in compression, the concrete tends to expand laterally, which may lead to cracking and a reduction in strength as loading continues. A PVC pipe surrounding the concrete can provide lateral confinement that limits this expansion, helping to improve the column’s capacity to carry loads and to deform before failure, depending on the properties of the pipe and the concrete and on the loading conditions. The efficiency of this system depends on a number of variables, the most important of which are: 🔹 Pipe diameter and thickness: These affect the pipe’s ability to provide lateral confinement and resist deformation. 🔹 Concrete compressive strength: This affects the column’s strength and its behavior after damage begins. 🔹 Length-to-diameter ratio: This determines how much the column’s behavior is affected by slenderness and the likelihood of buckling. 🔹 Loading and support conditions: These affect the stress distribution and the final failure mode. An experimental study published in the journal Applied Sciences in 2022 indicates that the use of PVC pipes increased the maximum load of the short concrete columns studied by between about 4% and 15%, depending on the pipe diameters and the method of confinement. These results apply to the tested specimens and cannot be generalized to all columns without further experimental or analytical verification. Confining columns with PVC pipes may offer a promising option in some applications, given the improvement it can provide in compressive strength and crack limitation, in addition to the possibility of using it in certain composite systems. However, adopting it in actual structures requires verifying long-term durability, fire resistance, pipe stability, the nature of the bond between the pipe and the concrete, and the extent to which the system complies with structural design requirements. Conclusion: The use of PVC pipes to confine concrete columns represents a research direction worthy of study, but its success depends on appropriate design and on verifying performance under actual loading and service conditions, not on increased strength alone.