• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.711-722
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• 2011

Beam-column gravity or Intermediate Moment frames subjected to unexpected large displacements are vulnerable when no seismic details are provided, which is typical. Conversely, economic efficiency of those frames is decreased if unnecessary special detailing is applied as the beam and column size becomes quite large and steel congestion is caused by joint transverse reinforcement in beam-column connections. Moderate seismic design is used in Korea for beam-column connections of buildings with structural walls, which are to be destroyed when the unexpected large earthquake occurs. Nonetheless, performance of such beamcolumn connections may be substantially improved by the addition of steel fibers. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of steel fibers in reinforced concrete exterior beam-column connections and possibility for the replacement of some joint transverse reinforcement. Ten half-scale beam-column connections with non-seismic details were tested under cyclic loads with two cycles at each drift up to 19 cycles. Main test parameters used were the volume ratio of steel fibers (0%, 1%, 1.5%) and joint transverse reinforcement amount. The test results show that maximum capacity, energy dissipation capacity, shear strength and bond condition are improved with the application of steel fibers to substitute transverse reinforcement of beam-column connections. Furthermore, several shear strength equations for exterior connections were examined, including the proposed equation for steel fiber-reinforced concrete exterior connections with non-seismic details.