• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.427-443
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• 2014

This paper presents detailed analysis of the internal forces of interior beam-column joints of reinforced concrete (RC) frames under seismic action, identifies critical joint sections, proposes consistent definitions of average joint shear stress and average joint shear strain, derives formulas for calculating average joint shear and joint torque, and reports simplified analysis of the effects of joint shear and torque on the flexural strengths of critical joint sections. Numerical results of internal joint forces and flexural strengths of critical joint sections are presented for a pair of concentric and eccentric interior connections extracted from a seismically designed RC frame. The results indicate that effects of joint shear and torque may reduce the column-to-beam flexural strength ratios to below unity and lead to "joint-yielding mechanism" for seismically designed interior connections. The information presented in this paper aims to provide some new insight into the seismic behavior of interior beam-column joints and form a preliminary basis for analyzing the complicated interaction of internal joint forces.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.419-432
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• 2023

Beam-column joints are a critical component of reinforced concrete frame structures. They are responsible for transferring forces between adjoining beams and columns while limiting story drifts and maintaining structural integrity. During severe loading, beam-column joints deform significantly, affecting, and sometimes governing, the overall response of frame structures. While most failure modes for beam and column elements are commonly considered in plastic-hinge-based global frame analyses, the beam-column joint failure modes, such as concrete shear and reinforcement bond slip, are frequently omitted. One reason for this is the dearth of published guidance on what type of hinges to use, how to derive the joint hinge properties, and where to place these hinges. Many beam-column joint models are available in literature but their adoption by practicing structural engineers has been limited due to their complex nature and lack of practical application tools. The objective of this study is to provide a comparative review of the available beam-column joint models and present a practical joint modeling approach for integration into commonly used global frame analysis software. The presented modeling approach uses rotational spring models and is capable of modeling both interior and exterior joints with or without transverse reinforcement. A spreadsheet tool is also developed to execute the mathematical calculations and derive the shear stress-strain and moment-rotation curves ready for inputting into the global frame analysis. The application of the approach is presented by modeling a beam column joint specimen which was tested experimentally. Important modeling considerations are also presented to assist practitioners in properly modeling beam-column joints in frame analyses.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.317-329
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• 2024

Recent earthquakes have demonstrated that even when the beams and columns in a reinforced concrete frame remain intact, the integrity of the whole structure is undermined if the joint where these members connect fails. A good seismic performance of reinforced concrete frames depends on their ability to absorb seismic energy through inelastic deformations and to avoid a sudden development of collapse mechanism in event of a strong earthquake shaking. The primary objective of this investigation is to move the plastic hinge away from the beam-column joint region and hence reducing the damage to the joint region. In this research, the seismic performance of exterior beam-column joints with four types of confinement in joint region and inclined bars from column to beam is investigated experimentally. Control specimens without inclined bars and four types of confinement Square Hoop, Square Spiral, Circular Hoop and Circular Spiral were tested along with inclined bars were tested. Seismic performance was determined via load-deflection response, ductility, stiffness, energy dissipation, strain of beam reinforcement and crack pattern. Out of the four specimens with inclined bars, seismic performance of joint with Square Spiral confinement gave the best performance in terms of all parameters.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.67-83
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• 2015

The load transfer mechanism and load-bearing capacity of cast steel joints for H-shaped beam to square tube column connection are studied based on the deformation compatibility theory. Then the monotonic tensile experiments are conducted for 12 specimens about the cast steel joints for H-shaped beam to square tube column connection. The findings are that the tensile bearing capacity of the cast steel joints for beam-column connection depends on the ring of cast steel stiffener. The tensile fracture happens at the ring of the cast steel stiffener when the joint fails. The thickness of square tube column has little influence on the bearing capacity of the joint. The square tube column buckles while the joint without concrete filled, but the strength failure happens for the joint with concrete filled column. And the length of welding connection between square tube column and cast steel stiffener has little influence on the load-bearing capacity of the cast steel joint. Finally it is shown that the load-bearing capacity of the joints for H-shaped beam to concrete filled square tube column connection is larger than that of the joints for H-shaped beam to square tube column connection by 10% to 15%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.733-761
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• 2008

The failure of reinforced concrete structures in recent earthquakes caused concern about the performance of beam column joints. Confinement of joint is one of the ways to improve the performance of beam column joints during earthquakes. This paper describes an experimental study of exterior beam-column joints with two non-conventional reinforcement arrangements. One exterior beam-column joint of a six story building in seismic zone III of India was designed for earthquake loading. The transverse reinforcement of the joint assemblages were detailed as per IS 13920:1993 and IS 456:2000 respectively. The proposed nonconventional reinforcement was provided in the form of diagonal reinforcement on the faces of the joint, as a replacement of stirrups in the joint region for joints detailed as per IS 13920 and as additional reinforcement for joints detailed as per IS 456. These newly proposed detailing have the basic advantage of reducing the reinforcement congestion at the joint region. In order to study and compare the performance of joint with different detailing, four types of one-third scale specimens were cast (two numbers in each type). The main objective of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed reinforcement detailing. All the specimens were tested under reverse cyclic loading, with appropriate axial load. From the test results, it was found that the beam-column joint having confining reinforcement as per IS: 456 with nonconventional detailing performed well. Test results indicate that the non-conventionally detailed specimens, Type 2 and Type 4 have an improvement in average ductility of 16% and 119% than their conventionally detailed counter parts (Type1 and Type 3). Further, the joint shear capacity of the Type 2 and Type 4 specimens are improved by 8.4% and 15.6% than the corresponding specimens of Type 1 and Type 3 respectively. The present study proposes a closed form expression to compute the yield and ultimate load of the system. This is accomplished using the theory of statics and the failure pattern observed during testing. Good correlation is found between the theoretical and experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.313-328
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• 2002

Based on the orthotropic hypoelasticity formulation, a triaxial constitutive model of concrete is proposed. To account for increasing ductility in high confinement of concrete, the ductility enhancement is considered using so called the strain enhancement factor. It is also developed a three-dimensional finite element model for reinforced concrete structural members based on the proposed constitutive law of concrete with the smeared crack approach. The concrete confinement effects due to the beam-column joint are investigated through numerical examples for simple beam and structural beam member. Concrete at compression fibers in the vicinity of beam-column joint behaves dominant not only by the uniaxial compressive state but also by the biaxial and triaxial compressive states. For the reason of the severe confinement of concrete in the beam-column joint, the flexural critical cross-section is observed at a small distance away from the beam-column joint. These observations should be utilized for the economic design when the concrete structural members are subjected to high confinement due to the influence of beam-column joint.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.705-718
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• 2014

This paper presents an analytical model for determining the transverse reinforcement required for reinforced concrete exterior beam-column joints subjected to reversed cyclic loading. Although the joint aspect ratio can affect joint shear strength, current design codes do not consider its effects in calculating joint shear strength and the necessary amount of transverse reinforcement. This study re-evaluated previous exterior beam-column joint tests collected from 11 references and showed that the joint shear strength decreases as the joint aspect ratio increases. An analytical model was developed, to quantify the transverse reinforcement required to secure safe load flows in exterior beam-column joints. Comparisons with a database of exterior beam-column joint tests from published literature validated the model. The required sectional ratios of horizontal transverse reinforcement calculated by the proposed model were compared with those specified in ACI 352R-02. More transverse reinforcement is required as the joint aspect ratio increases, or as the ratio of vertical reinforcement decreases; however, ACI 352R-02 specifies a constant transverse reinforcement, regardless of the joint aspect ratio. This reevaluation of test data and the results of the analytical model demonstrate a need for new criteria that take the effects of joint aspect ratio into account in exterior joint design.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.273-283
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• 2018

Previous experimental researches indicate that reinforced concrete beam-column joints play an important role in the mechanical properties of moment resisting frame structures, so as to require proper design. In order to get better understanding of the beam-column joint performance, a rational model needs to be developed. Based on the former considerations, two typical models for calculating the shear carrying capacity of the beam-column joint including the inelastic reinforced concrete joint model and the softened strut-and-tie model are selected to be introduced and analyzed. After examining the applicability of two typical models mentioned earlier to interior beam-column joints, several adjustments are made to get better predicting of the test results. For the softened strut-and-tie model, four adjustments including modifications of the depth of the diagonal strut, the inclination angle of diagonal compression strut, the smeared stress of mild steel bars embedded in concrete, as well as the softening coefficient are made. While two adjustments for the inelastic reinforced concrete joint model including modifications of the confinement effect due to the column axial load and the correction coefficient for high concrete are made. It has been proved by test data that predicted results by the improved softened strut-and-tie model or the modified inelastic reinforced concrete joint model are consistent with the test data and conservative. Based on the test results, it is also not difficult to find that the improved beam-column joint model can be used to predict the joint carrying capacity and cracks development with sufficient accuracy.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.377-398
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• 2019

Behavior of RC beam-column joint is very complex as the composite material behaves differently in elastic and inelastic range. The approaches generally used for predicting joint shear strength are either based on theoretical, strut-and-tie or empirical methods. These approaches are incapable of predicting the accurate response of the joint for entire range of loading. In the present study a new generalized RC beam-column joint shear strength model based on hybrid approach i.e. combined strut-and-tie and empirical approach has been proposed. The contribution of governing parameters affecting the joint shear strength under compression has been derived from compressive strut approach whereas; the governing parameters active under tension has been extracted from empirical approach. The proposed model is applicable for various conditions such as, joints reinforced either with or without shear reinforcement, joints with wide beam or wide column, joints with transverse beams and slab, joints reinforced with X-bars, different anchorage of beam bar, and column subjected to various axial loading conditions. The joint shear strength prediction of the proposed model has been compared with 435 experimental results and with eleven popular models from literature. In comparison to other eleven models the prediction of the proposed model is found closest to the experimental results. Moreover, from statistical analysis of the results, the proposed model has the least coefficient of variation. The proposed model is simple in application and can be effectively used by designers.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.111-126
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• 2019

This paper deals with experimental investigation and modeling of the static behavior of a novel RCS beam-column exterior joint. The studied joint detail is a through-column type in which an H steel profile totally embedded inside RC column is directly welded to the steel beam. The H steel profile was covered by two supplementary plates in the joint area in order to avoid the stirrups resisting shear in the joint area. Two full-scale through-column-type RCS joints were tested under static loading. The objectives of the tests were to examine the connection performance and to highlight the contribution of two supplementary plates on the shear resistance of the joint. A reliable nonlinear 3D finite element model was developed using ABAQUS software to predict the response and behavior of the studied RCS joint. An extensive parametric study was performed to investigate the influences of the stirrups, the encased profile length and supplementary plate length on the behavior of the studied RCS joint.