Reducing Steel Congestion without Violating Seismic Performance Requirements

Abstract

This paper is concerned with an experimental investigation of the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beam-column specimens subjected to cyclic loading combined with a constant axial force. The specimens have the same geometry and longitudinal reinforcement but differ, on one hand, in that the portion of the longitudinal reinforcement within the critical regions is debonded from concrete in certain specimens and, on the other hand, in the transverse reinforcement arrangement; the latter is designed either in compliance with the earthquake-resistant design clauses of the current European codes or in accordance with the method of the compressive force path. The results obtained indicate that adopting the latter method yields significantly less transverse reinforcement in the critical regions without compromising the code performance requirements. Moreover, when the application of this method is combined with debonding the longitudinal reinforcement within these regions from concrete, a significant improvement in structural behavior is achieved.