• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.383-400
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• 2024

For a conventionally repaired frame-supported-transfer-slab (FSTS) reinforced concrete (RC) structure, both the transfer slab and the beam-to-column and transfer slab-to-column joints remain vulnerable to secondary earthquakes. Aimed at improving the seismic performance of a damaged FSTS RC structure, an innovative retrofitting scheme is proposed, which adopts the sector lead rubber dampers (SLRDs) at joints after the damaged FSTS RC structure is repaired by conventional approaches. In this paper, a series of quasi-static cyclic tests was conducted on a large-scale retrofitted FSTS RC structure. The seismic performance was evaluated and the key test results, including deformation characteristics, damage pattern, hysteretic behaviour, bearing capacity and strains on key components, were reported in detail. The test results indicated that the SLRDs started to dissipate energy under the service level earthquake, and thus prevented damages on the beam-to-column and transfer slab-to-column joints during the secondary earthquakes and shifted the plastic hinges away from the beam ends. The retrofitting scheme of using SLRDs also achieved the seismic design concept of 'strong joint, weak component'. The FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs could recover more than 85% bearing capacity of its undamaged counterpart. The hysteresis curves were featured by the inverse "S" shape, indicating good bearing capacity and hysteresis performance. The deformation capacity of the damaged FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs met the corresponding codified requirements for the case of the maximum considered earthquake, as set out in the Chinese seismic design code. The stability of the FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs, which was revealed by the developed stains of the RC frame and transfer slab, was improved compared with the undamaged FSTS RC structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.417-430
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• 2021

Due to functional requirements, SRC column-RC beam abnormal joints with characteristics of strong beam weak column, variable column section, unequal beam height and staggered height exist in the Steel reinforced concrete (SRC) frame-bent main building structure of thermal power plant (TPP). This paper presents the experimental results of these abnormal joints through cyclic loading tests on five specimens with scaling factor of 1/5. The staggered height and whether adding H-shaped steel in beam or not were changing parameters of specimens. The failure patterns, bearing capacity, energy dissipation and ductile performance were analyzed. In addition, the stress mechanism of the abnormal joint was discussed based on the diagonal strut model. The research results showed that the abnormal exterior joints occurred shear failure and column end hinge flexural failure; reducing beam height through adding H-shaped steel in the beam of abnormal exterior joint could improve the crack resistance and ductility; the abnormal interior joints with different staggered heights occurred column ends flexural failure; the joint with larger staggered height had the higher bearing capacity and stiffness, but lower ductility. The concrete compression strut mechanism is still applicable to the abnormal joints in TPP, but it is affected by the abnormal characteristics.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.6 s.96
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• pp.729-736
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• 2006

It has been shown that many Reinforced Concrete(RC) structures designed without seismic details have experienced brittle shear failures in the beam-column joint area and resulted in large permanent deformations and structural collapse. In this study, experimental investigations into the performance of exterior reinforced concrete beam-column joints strengthened with the carbon fiber-reinforced polymer(CFRP) under cyclic loading were presented. The CFRP has been applied by choosing different combinations and locations to determine the effective way to improve structural performances of joints. Eight beam-column joints were tested to investigate behaviors of each specimen under cyclic load and to compare performances of seismic retrofit. According to the experimental study, the retrofit strengthened with the CFRP provides significant improvements of flexural capacity and ductility of beam-column joints originally built without seismic details.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.125-133
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• 2014

In this study, experimental research was carried out to investigate the seismic and structural performance of precast concrete exterior beam-column joints using bolt type connection and prestressing method. A total of five full-scale exterior beam-column joints were constructed and tested under reversed cyclic loading, controlled by displacement. Results of the test are as follows: Energy dissipation capacity and pinching phenomenon of PC beam-column joints showed disadvantageous behavior compared to RC beam-column joints. However, drift capacity of the PC joint was excellent. Also, yield mechanism concentrated on embedded nuts was suitable as an exterior beam-column joint of lateral load resistance frame. Additional application of prestressing method was also very effective to control excessive pinching and cracking in the joint region, and thus improved an overall seismic performance of the PC joint.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.665-679
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• 2015

The strain rate of reinforced concrete (RC) structures stimulated by earthquake action has been generally recognized as in the range from $10^{-4}/s$ to $10^{-1}/s$. Because both concrete and steel reinforcement are rate-sensitive materials, the RC beam-column joints are bound to behave differently under different strain rates. This paper describes an investigation of seismic behavior of RC beam-column joints which are subjected to large cyclic displacements on the beam ends with three loading velocities, i.e., 0.4 mm/s, 4 mm/s and 40 mm/s respectively. The levels of strain rate on the joint core region are correspondingly estimated to be $10^{-5}/s$, $10^{-4}/s$, and $10^{-2}/s$. It is aimed to better understand the effect of strain rates on seismic behavior of beam-column joints, such as the carrying capacity and failure modes as well as the energy dissipation. From the experiments, it is observed that with the increase of loading velocity or strain rate, damage in the joint core region decreases but damage in the plastic hinge regions of adjacent beams increases. The energy absorbed in the hysteresis loops under higher loading velocity is larger than that under quasi-static loading. It is also found that the yielding load of the joint is almost independent of the loading velocity, and there is a marginal increase of the ultimate carrying capacity when the loading velocity is increased for the ranges studied in this work. However, under higher loading velocity the residual carrying capacity after peak load drops more rapidly. Additionally, the axial compression ratio has little effect on the shear carrying capacity of the beam-column joints, but with the increase of loading velocity, the crack width of concrete in the joint zone becomes narrower. The shear carrying capacity of the joint at higher loading velocity is higher than that calculated with the quasi-static method proposed by the design code. When the dynamic strengths of materials, i.e., concrete and reinforcement, are directly substituted into the design model of current code, it tends to be insufficiently safe.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.485-498
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• 2020

Non-ductile detailing of Reinforced Concrete (RC) frames may lead to structural failure when the structure is subjected to earthquake response. These designs are generally encountered in older RC frames constructed prior to the introduction of the ductility aspect. The failure observed in the beam-column joints (BCJs) and accompanied by excessive column damage. This work examines the seismic performance and failure mode of non-ductile designed RC columns and exterior BCJs. The design was based on the actual building in Tainan City, Taiwan, that collapsed due to the 2016 Meinong earthquake. Hence, an experimental investigation using cyclic testing was performed on two columns and two BCJ specimens scaled down to 50%. The experiment resulted in a poor response in both specimens. Excessive cracks and their propagation due to the incursion of the lateral loads could be observed close to the top and bottom of the specimens. Joint shear failure appeared in the joints. The ductility of the member was below the desired value of 4. This is the minimum number required to survive an earthquake with a similar magnitude to that of El Centro. The evidence provides an understanding of the seismic failure of poorly detailed RC frame structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.283-292
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• 2015

In the moment frame subjected to earthquake loads, beam-column joint is structurally important for ductile behavior of a system. ACI Committee 352 proposed guidelines for designing beam-column joint details. The guidelines, however, need to be updated because of the lack of data regarding several factors that may improve the performance of joints. The purpose of this study is to investigate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete exterior joints with high-strength materials and unbonded tendons. Three specimens with different joint shear demand-to-strength ratios were constructed and tested, where headed bars were used to anchor the beam bars into the joint. All specimens showed satisfactory seismic behavior including moment strength of 1.3 times the nominal moment, ductile performance (ductility factor = at least 2.4), and sufficiently large dissipated energy.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.195-211
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• 2014

When strong seismic forces act on reinforced concrete structures, their beam-column connections are very susceptible to damage during the earthquake event. The aim of this numerical work is to evaluate the influence of the internal steel reinforcement array on the nonlinear response of a RC beam-column connection when it is subjected to strong cyclic loading -as a seismic load. For this, two specimens (extracted from an experimental test of 12 RC beam-column connections reported in literature) were modeled in the Finite Element code FEAP considering different stirrup's arrays. In order to evaluate the nonlinear response of the RC beam-column connection, the 2D model takes into account the nonlinear thermodynamic behavior of each component: for concrete, a damage model is used; for steel reinforcement, it is adopted a classical plasticity model; in the case of the steel-concrete bonding, this one is considered perfect without degradation. At the end, we show a comparison between the experimental test's responses and the numerical results, which includes the distribution of shear stresses and damage inside the concrete core of the beam-column connection; in the other hand, the effects on the connection of a low and high state of confinement are analyzed for all cases.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.223-241
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• 2007

Seven full-scale exterior beam-column joints were produced and tested under reversible cyclic loads to determine. Two of these seven specimens were produced using ordinary reinforced concrete (RC). Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) was placed in three different regions of the beams of the rest five specimens to determine the extent of the region where SFRC is the most effective. The extent of the region of SFRC was kept constant at the columns of all five specimens. Three of these five specimens which had one stirrup in the joint, were tested to evaluate the effect of the stirrup on the behavior of the beam-column joint together with SFRC. In production of the specimens with SFRC, all special requirements of the Turkish Earthquake Code related to the spacing of hoops were disregarded. Previous researches reported in the literature indicate that the fiber type, the volume content, and the aspect ratio of steel fibers affect the behavior of beam-column joints produced with SFRC. The results of the present investigation show that the behavior of exterior beam-column joints depends on the extent of the region where SFRC is used and the usage of stirrup in the joint, in addition to the parameters listed in the literature.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.297-317
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• 2016

Current codes recommend large amounts of shear reinforcement for reinforced concrete beam-column joints that causes significant bar congestion. Increase in congestion of shear reinforcement in joint core (connection zone), leads to increase accomplishment problems. The congestion may also lead to diameter limitations on the beam bars relative to the joint dimensions. Using double headed studs instead of conventional closed hoops in reinforced concrete beam-column joints reduces congestion and ensures easier assembly of the reinforcing cage. The purpose of this research is evaluating the efficiency of the proposed reinforcement. In this way, 10 groups of exterior beam-column joints are modeled. Each group includes 7 specimens by different reinforcing details in their joint core. All specimens are modeled by using of ABAQUS and analyzed subjected to cyclic loading. After verification of analytical modeling with an experimental specimen, 3D nonlinear specimens are modeled and analyzed. Then, the effect of amount and arrangement of headed studs on ductility, performance, ultimate strength and energy absorption has been studied. Based on the results, all joints reinforced with double headed studs represent better performance compared with the joints without shear transverse reinforcement in joints core. The behavior of the former is close to joints reinforced with closed hoops and cross ties according to the seismic design codes. By adjusting the arrangement of double-headed studs, the decrease in ductility, performance, ultimate moment resistant and energy absorption reduce to 2.61%, 0.90%, 0.90% and 1.66% respectively compared with the joints reinforced by closed hoops on the average. Since the use of headed studs reduces accomplishment problems, these amounts are negligible. Therefore, use of double-headed studs has proved to be a viable option for reinforcing exterior beam-column joints.