Shear Strength Prediction of RC Beam-column Sandwich Interior Joints Based on Simplified Softened Strut-and-Tie

Abstract

Introduction: The sandwich joints casted core area with weaker strength concrete of beam, has more advantages than the traditional joints casted core area with higher strength concrete of column, such as the simple construction and quality assurance, while China design codes are too simple about the sandwich joints and have no clear calculation methods. Methods: Due to the scarcity of rational models for predicting the strength of RC beam-column sandwich joints, a modified simplified softened strut-and-tie model suggests a more rational calculation method for the effective compressive strength and the height of the joint concrete based on the simplified softened strut-and-tie. The shear strength of existing tested 15 sandwich interior joints is calculated by using the modified simplified softened strut-and-tie model. Furthermore, the theory results are compared with those of the code method and those of the simplified softened strut-and-tie model. Results and Conclusion: The results indicate that the code method is more conservative, and the modified simplified softened strut-and-tie can more precisely predict the joint shear strength than that of the softened strut-and-tie model and more secure than that of the code method. Thus, the modified simplified softened strut-and-tie model can reasonable reveal the failure mechanism of RC beam-column sandwich interior joints.