Abstract
This study is to investigate the effect of a retrofitted reinforced concrete frame with non-seismic details strengthened by embedded steel moment frames with an indirect joint, which mitigates the problems of the direct joint method. First, full-scale experiments were conducted to confirm the structural behavior of a 2-story reinforced concrete frame with non-seismic details and strengthened by a steel moment frame with an indirect joint. The reinforced concrete frame with non-seismic details showed a maximum strength of 185 kN at an overall drift ratio of 1.75%. The flexural-shear failure of columns was governed, and shear cracks were concentrated at the beam-column joints. The reinforced concrete frame strengthened by the embedded steel moment frames achieved a maximum strength of 701 kN at an overall drift ratio of 1.5% so that the maximum strength was about 3.8 times that of the specimen with non-seismic details. The failure pattern of the retrofitted specimen was the loss of bond strength between the concrete and the rebars of the columns caused by a prying action of the bottom indirect joint because of lateral force. Furthermore, methods are proposed for calculation of the specified strength of the reinforced concrete frame with non-seismic details and strengthened by the steel moment frame with the indirect joint.