Investigation of the Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beam-Column Joints

Abstract

The beam-column joint is a very critical part of reinforced concrete framed structures. Joints ensure continuity of a structure and transfer forces that are present at the ends of the members. In reinforced concrete structures, failure in a beam often occurs at the beam-column joint, making the joint one of the most critical sections of the structure system.

The joint behavior was dependent on several factors related to their geometry, amount and detailing of reinforcement, relative stiffness between beam and column, concrete strength, loading pattern, and the column acting axial load. This study aimed to understand better reinforced concrete beam-column joints' behavior under the effect of three different factors: column shape, transverse beam position, and transverse reinforcement of joints.

An experimental program consists of testing three full-scale beam-column Joints with different eccentric-beam column connections with the same reinforcement were cast to study the effect of beam transverse position. Also consist of four full-scale beam-column Joints, with the same column moment of inertia to study the effect of Column shape. Another three full-scale beam-column Joints were cast to study the effect of transverse reinforcement of joint. All Joints were cast from normal strength concrete grad 35 Mpa and tested under same test setup conditions under fixed load at the column to and quasi-Static load (Cyclic load) at beam end. Parameters such as ultimate load, displacement, steel strain, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation, and crack behavior of concrete were examined.