Joint shear behaviour of reinforced concrete beam–column connections

Abstract

An extensive experimental database (341 cases in total) has been constructed for reinforced concrete (RC) beam–column connections subjected to quasi-static cyclic lateral loading. All cases within the database experienced joint shear failure, either in conjunction with or without yielding of beam reinforcement. RC joint shear strength models, which are applicable to both modern and older types of beam–column connections, have been developed using the constructed database in conjunction with a Bayesian parameter estimation method. Following this same procedure established to develop the strength models, joint shear deformation models (at maximum joint shear stress) have also been developed. The proposed quantitative RC joint shear strength and deformation models indicate that the following parameters are most important towards determining joint shear strength and deformation capacity–concrete compressive strength, beam reinforcement, joint transverse reinforcement, in-plane geometry, out-of-plane geometry and joint eccentricity. Finally, the influence of these six key parameters on the RC joint shear stress against joint shear strain behaviour at peak response has been assessed.