Abstract
Reinforced concrete beam-column knee joints are different from the conventional interior and exterior beam-column joints in terms of forces acting on the joint and shear resisting mechanisms develop in the joint. The distinct closing and opening behaviour of knee joints, acting simultaneously under seismic excitations, makes them more vulnerable to brittle failure. To understand the cyclic behaviour of knee joints comprehensively, six reinforced concrete specimens which were designed to produce varying joint closing and opening shear stresses were tested under reversed cyclic loading. Test specimens were divided into three groups of two specimens each based on their angles of diagonal concrete strut. The behaviour of these specimens was analysed to understand the paired effect of closing and opening actions on the overall shear degradation of knee joints subjected to cyclic loading. While specimens with relatively low opening shear stresses reached recommended shear capacity values, specimens with high opening shear stresses failed prematurely. Suitable design provisions are suggested considering the complementary effects of closing and opening actions on the overall cyclic behaviour of knee joints.
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