Experimental study on the seismic response of braced reinforced concrete frame with irregular columns

A 15-storey K-braced reinforced concrete model frame with irregular columns, i.e., T-shaped, L-shaped, as well as ＋-shaped columns, was constructed and tested on the six-degree-of-freedom shaking table at the State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering in Tongji, China. Two types of earthquake records, El-Centro wave （south-north direction） and Shanghai artificial wave （SHAW） with various peak accelerations and principal-secondary sequences, were input and experimentally studied. Based on the shaking table tests and theoretical analysis, several observations can be made. The failure sequence of the model structure is brace→beam→column→joints, so that the design philosophy for several lines of defense has been achieved. Earthquake waves with different spectrums not only influence the magnitude and distribution of the earthquake force and the storey shear force, but also obviously affect the magnitude of the displacement response. The aftershock seismic response of previously damaged reinforced concrete braced frames with irregular columns possesses the equivalent elastic performance characteristic. Generally speaking, from the aspects of failure features and drift ratio, this type of reinforced concrete structure provides adequate earthquake resistance and can be promoted for use in China.

Earthquake simulation test of circular reinforced concrete bridge column under multidirectional seismic excitation

Structures behave multi-directionally when subjected to earthquake excitation. Thus, it is essential to evaluate the effect of multidirectional loading on the dynamic response and seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge columns in order to develop more advanced and reliable design procedures. To investigate such effects, a 1/4 scaled circular reinforced concrete bridge column specimen was tested under two horizontal and one vertical components of a strong motion that has long duration with several strong pulses. Damage progress of reinforced concrete columns subjected to strong excitation was evaluated from the test. The test results demonstrate that the lateral force response in the principal directions become smaller than computed flexural capacity due to the bilateral flexural loading effects, and that the lateral response is not significantly affected by the fluctuation of the axial force because the horizontal response and axial force barely reached the maximum simultaneously due to difference of the predominant natural periods between the vertical and the horizontal directions. Accuracy of fiber analyses is discussed using the test results.

Hysteretic behavior of special shaped columns composed of steel and reinforced concrete(SRC)

This paper describes a series of experimental investigations on seventeen specimens of steel reinforced concrete special shaped(SRCSS) columns under low cyclic reversed loading using parallel crosshead equipment. Nine T-shaped SRC columns, four L-shaped SRC columns and four +-shaped SRC columns were tested to examine the effects of shape steel confi guration, loading angle, axial compressive ratio and shear-span ratio on the behavior(strength, stiffness, energy dissipation, ductility, etc.) of SRCSS column specimens. The failure modes and hysteretic performance of all the specimens were obtained in the tests. Test results demonstrate that the shear-span ratio is the main parameter affecting the failure modes of SRCSS columns. The specimens with small shear-span ratio are prone to shear failure, and the primary failure planes in SRCSS columns are parallel to the loading direction. As a result, there is a symmetry between positive and negative loading directions in the hysteretic curves of the SRCSS columns. The majority of displacement ductility coeffi cients for all the specimens are over 3.0, so that the SRCSS columns demonstrate a better deformation capacity. In addition, the equivalent viscous damping coeffi cients of all the specimens are greater than 0.2, indicating that the seismic behavior of SRCSS columns is adequate. Finally, the superposition theory was used to calculate the limits of axial compressive ratio for the specimens, and it is found that the test axial compressive ratio is close to or smaller than the calculated axial compressive ratio limit.

Experimental study on ductility improvement of reinforced concrete rectangular Columns retrofitted with a new fiber reinforced plastics method

Reinforced concrete （RC） columns lacking adequately detailed transverse reinforcement do not possess the necessary ductility to dissipate seismic energy during a major earthquake without severe strength degradation. In this paper, a new retrofit method, which utilized fiber-reinforced plastics （FRP） confinement mechanism and anchorage of embedded bars, was developed aiming to retrofit non-ductile large RC rectangular columns to prevent the damage of the plastic hinges. Carbon FRP （CFRP） sheets and glass FRP （GFRP） bars were used in this test, and five scaled RC columns were tested to examine the function of this new method for improving the ductility of columns. Responses of columns were examined before and after being retrofitted. Test results indicate that this new composite method can be very effective to improve the anti-seismic behavior of non-ductile RC columns compared with normal CFRP sheets retrofitted column.

Study of Short Column Behavior Originated from the Level Difference on Sloping Lots during Earthquake (Special Case: Reinforced Concrete Buildings)

The disorders originated from architectural design in buildings, show in different forms. One of them is the level difference originated from lot’s slope which affects structures through short column phenomenon. The great stiffness of short columns enables them to absorb large amounts of structural energy. Inattention of some manuals and regulations such as Earthquake regulations to this phenomenon necessitates paying further attention to it. On this basis, the present study employed experimental modeling and numerical modeling for a four-story reinforced concrete building that involves the analysis of simple 2-D frames of varying floor heights and varying number of bays using a very popular software tool STAAD Pro on both a sloping and a flat lot. Also Sap2000 software had been used to show that the displacement of floors is greater for a flat lot building than a sloping lot building. However, the increase in shear was found to be quite greater in short columns compared to common ones and an enormous moment should be tolerated by sloping lot structures. The greater stiffness of the structure was also revealed by non-linear static (Push-Over) analysis. According to the results, short column are required to have more resistant sections and are suggested to be reinforced with more bars. In addition, more steel should be used as stirrups than as longitudinal bars. Also for existing structures, shear capacity of short columns should be retrofitted by FRP, Steel Jacket or other materials.

Compressive Strength Estimation for the Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP)-Confined Concrete Columns with Different Shapes Using Artificial Neural Networks

An evaluation of existing strength of concrete columns confined with fiber-reinforced polymer( FRP) was presented with extensive collection of experimental data. According to the evaluation results, artificial neural networks( ANNs) model to predict the ultimate strength of FRP confined column with different shapes was proposed. The models had seven inputs including the column length,the tensile strength of the FRP in the hoop direction,the total thickness of FRP,the diameter of the concrete specimen,the elastic modulus of FRP,the corner radius and the concrete compressive strength. The compressive strength of the confined concrete was the output data. The results reveal that the proposed models have good prediction and generalization capacity with acceptable errors.

Mechanical Behavior of Rectangular Steel-Reinforced ECC/Concrete Composite Column under Eccentric Compression

In order to improve the seismic performance, deformation ability and ultimate load-carrying capacity of columns with rectangular cross section, engineered cementitious composite(ECC) is introduced to partially substitute concrete in the edge zone of reinforced concrete columns and form reinforced ECC/concrete composite columns.Firstly, based on the assumption of plane remaining plane and the simplified constitutive models, the calculation method of the load-carrying capacity of reinforced ECC/concrete columns is proposed. The stress and strain distributions and crack propagation of the composite columns in different states of eccentric compressive loading are analyzed. Then, nonlinear finite element analysis is conducted to study the mechanical performance of reinforced ECC/concrete composite columns with rectangular cross section. It is found that the simulation results are in good agreement with the theoretical results, indicating that the proposed method for calculating the load-carrying capacity of concrete/ECC composite columns is valid. Finally, based on the proposed method, the effects of ECC thickness, compressive strength of concrete and longitudinal reinforcement ratio on the mechanical performance of reinforced ECC/ concrete composite columns are analyzed. Calculation results indicate that increasing the thickness of ECC layer or longitudinal reinforcement ratio can effectively increase the ultimate load-carrying capacity of the composite column with both small and large eccentricity, but increasing the strength of concrete can only increase the ultimate loadcarrying capacity of the composite column with small eccentricity.

Square concrete columns strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced plastics sheets at low temperatures

Twenty-one square concrete columns were constructed and tested. The testing results indicate that bonded carbon fiber reinforced plastics(CFRP) sheets can be used to increase the strength and improve the serviceability of damaged concrete columns at low temperatures. The failure of the specimens,in most cases,takes place within the middle half of the columns. And the failure of strengthened columns is sudden and explosive. The CFRP sheets increase both the axial load capacity and the ultimate concrete compressive strain of the columns. The ultimate loads of strengthened columns at-10,0 and 10 ℃ increase averagely by 9.09%,6.63% and 17.83%,respectively,as compared with those of the control specimens. The axial compressive strength of strengthened columns is related to the curing temperatures. The improvement of axial compressive strength decreases with reducing temperature,and when the temperature drops to a certain value,the improvement increases with falling temperature.

Seismic Performance of Steel Reinforced Ultra High-strength Concrete Columns

The seismic performance of steel reinforced ultra-high-strength concrete columns(SRSHC) with various shear-span ratios(λ) were studied through a series of experiments.The concrete compressive cube strength value of experimental specimens ranged from 92.9 MPa to 108.1 MPa.The main experimental variables affecting seismic performance of specimens were axial load ratio and stirrup reinforcement ratio.The columns(λ=2.75) subjected to low cyclic reversed lateral loads failed mainly in the flexural-shear mode failure and columns(λ≤2.0) subjected to low cyclic reversed lateral loads failed mainly in the shear mode failure.Shear force-displacement hysteretic curves and skeleton curves were drawn.Coefficient of the specimen displacement ductility was calculated.Experimental results indicate that ductility decreases with axial pressure ratio increasing,and increases with stirrup reinforcement ratio increasing.Limit values of axial pressure ratio and minimum stirrup reinforcement ratio of columns are proposed to satisfy definite ductility requirement.The suggested values provide a reference for engineering application and for the amendment of the current Chinese design code of steel reinforced concrete composite structures.

Experimental study on slender reinforced concrete columns wrapped with CFRP

By axial compression tests on 6 reinforced concrete slender columns wrapped with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP),with slenderness ratio(SR) from 4.5 to 17.5,the results show that when SR increases the retrofitting effect declines. In the case of same SR,the stability coefficient (SC) for the reinforced concrete(RC) columns with CFRP is much less than that without CFRP. There is 20% increase of stable bearing capacity to the former as compared with the latter when the SR in less than 17.5. The study summarized the simplified formula for SC,which provides a reference for engineering designers.

Seismic Behaviour of Beam-Column Joints of Precast and Partial Steel Reinforced Concrete

A beam-column joint of precast and partial steel reinforced concrete( PPSRC) is proposed for precast reinforced concrete frames. The PPSRC consists of partial steel and reinforced concrete. The partial steel is located in the core joint region and the connections between concrete members. This paper presents an experimental study of a series of PPSRC specimens. These specimens are tested under low cyclic loading.Experimental results demonstrate that the bearing capacity of the PPSRC specimens is 3 times that of the ordinary reinforced concrete( RC) beam-column joints. The strength and stiffness degradation rates are slower compared with that of the RC beam-column joints. In addition,the strength of the core joint region and the connections is higher than other parts of the PPSRC specimens. Beam failure occurs firstly for the PPSRC specimens,followed by column failure and connections failure. The failure of the core joint region occurs finally.Test results show that the seismic performance of the PPSRC is better than that of the ordinary RC beam-column joints.

Mesoscopic investigation on seismic performance of corroded reinforced concrete columns

In addition to the normal service loadings,engineering structures may be subjected to occasional loadings such as earthquakes,which may cause severe destruction.When the steel rebar is corroded,the damage could be more serious.To investigate the seismic performance of corroded RC columns,a three-dimensional mesoscale finite element model was established.In this approach,concrete was considered as a three-phase composite composed of aggregate,mortar matrix and interfacial transition zone(ITZ).The nonlinear spring were used to describe the bond slip between steel and concrete.The degradation of the material properties of the steel rebar and cover concrete as well as the bonding performance due to corrosion were taken into account.The rationality of the developed numerical analysis model was verified by the good agreement between the numerical results and the available experimental observation.On this basis,the effect of corrosion level,axial force ratio and shear-span ratio on the seismic performance of corroded RC columns,including lateral bearing capacity,ductility,and energy consumption,were explored and discussed.The simulation results indicate that the mesoscopic method can consider the heterogeneity of concrete,to more realistically and reasonably reflect the destruction process of structures.

Shear capacity of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with CFRP sheet

This paper discusses the results of tests on the shear capacity of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) sheet. The shear transfer mechanism of the specimens reinforced with CFRP sheet was studied. The factors affecting the shear capacity of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with CFRP sheet were analyzed. Several sug-gestions such as the number of layers, width and tensile strength of the CFRP sheet are proposed for this new strengthening technique. Finally, a simple and practical design method is presented in the paper. The calculated results of the suggested method are shown to be in good agreement with the test results. The suggested design method can be used in evaluating the shear capacity of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with CFRP sheet.

Comparing the Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Columns Embedded in Walls and Subjected to Fire

Fire is an exceptional action that may occur during the life of a building.So,it must be considered when designing a building structure.The standards provide several types of design methods for that propose,used for single elements,parts of structure or the structure as a whole.The fire design of columns is important both for new project as for remodel buildings and also for verification of the residual resistance of columns that have suffered a fire accident.In this way,the aim of this work is to analyze numerically different ways of fire exposure to check the compressive strength of the columns when subjected to fire and the influence of the adjacent walls to a column in case of fire.The thermal advanced analysis of the sections columns was performed using the finite element software,Abaqus CAE,where the standard fire curve,ISO 834(International Organization for Standardization 834),was used,with 4 h of fire duration.It was possible,with the two methods used in this work,to compare them to verify which model is more conservative and which is closer to the advanced numerical model,for calculating temperatures in the column section.It was checked that the walls act as thermal insulators,protecting part of the columns from the convection and radiation of the fire.Consequently,the effects of raising the temperature over the compressive resistance of the reinforced concrete column,were reduced.

Model Experiment on Integral Seismic Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Frame with Split Columns

Based on a series of previous studies, an experiment on the integral seismic behavior of a 1/3 scaled model of two-bay and three-story reinforced concrete frame with split columns at lower two stories is performed under cyclic loading. The original columns at lower two stories of the model frame are short columns and they are replaced by the split columns. The hysteresis curves between the horizontal cyclic load and the lateral displacement at the top of the model frame, indicate that under the cyclic loading, the model frame undergoes the process of cracking, yielding, and maximum loading before being destroyed at the ultimate load. They also indicate that the model frame has better ductility, and the ratio of the ultimate displacement to the yielding displacement, reaches 6.0. The yielding process of the model frame shows that for the frame with split columns, plastic hinges are generated at the ends of beams and then the columns begin yielding while the frame still possesses the bearing and deformation capacity. The design idea of directly changing the short column to long one in the reinforced concrete frame may be realized by replacing the short column with the split one.

Effects of edge beams on mechanic behavior under lateral load in reinforced concrete hollow slab-column structure

In order to get the formulae for calculating the equivalent frame width coefficient of reinforced concrete hollow slab-column structures with edge beam,the finite element structural program was used in the elastic analysis of reinforced concrete hollow slab-column structure with different dimensions to study internal relationship between effective beam width and the frame dimensions.In addition,the formulas for calculating the increasing coefficient of edge beam were also obtained.

Achievements of Truss Models for Reinforced Concrete Structures

Achievements are presented for truss models of RC structures developed in previous years: 1. Two constitutive models, biaxial and triaxial, are based on regular trusses, with bars obeying nonlinear uniaxial σ-ε laws of material under simulation;both models have been compared with test results and show a dependence of Poisson ratio on curvature of σ-ε law. 2. A truss finite element has been used in the nonlinear static and dynamic analysis of plane RC frames;it has been compared with test results and describes, in a simple way, the formation of plastic hinges. 3. Thanks to the very simple geometry of a truss, the equilibrium equations can be easily written and the stiffness matrix can be easily updated, both with respect to the deformed truss, within each step of a static incremental loading or within each time step of a dynamic analysis, so that to take into account geometric nonlinearities. So the confinement of a RC column is interpreted as a structural stability effect of concrete. And a significant role of the transverse reinforcement is revealed, that of preventing, by its close spacing and sufficient amount, the buckling of inner longitudinal concrete struts, which would lead to a global instability of the RC column. 4. The proposed truss model is statically indeterminate, so it exhibits some features, which are not met by the “strut-and-tie” model.

Evaluation of the fishbone model in simulating the seismic response of multistory reinforced concrete moment-resisting frames

The fishbone model is a simplified numerical model for moment-resisting frames that is capable of modelling the effects of column-beam strength and stiffness ratios. The applicability of the fishbone model in simulating the seismic responses of reinforced concrete moment-resisting frames of different sets of column-beam strength and stiffness ratios are evaluated through nonlinear static, dynamic and incremental dynamic analysis on six prototype buildings of 4-, 8-and 12-stories. The results show that the fishbone model is practically accurate enough for reinforced concrete frames, although the assumption of equal joint rotation does not hold in all cases. In addition to the ground motion characteristics and the number of stories in the structures, the accuracy of the model also varies with the column-beam stiffness and strength ratios. The model performs better for strong column-weak beam frames, in which the lateral drift patterns are better controlled by the continuous stiffness provided by the strong columns. When the inelastic deformation is large, the accuracy of the model may be subjected to large record-to-record variability. This is especially the case for frames of weak columns.