Effect of Edge Beams on the Shear Capacity of GFRP-Reinforced Concrete Exterior Beam-Column Joints

摘要

The non-corrodible glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement is currently used in reinforced concrete (RC) infrastructure to avoid steel-corrosion problems. However, the behaviour of GFRP bars in tension-compression reversed cycles in RC frame structures has not been well investigated yet. Recently, very few studies have been conducted on the seismic behaviour of FRP-RC exterior beam-column joints; however, none studied the influence of the edge beams on the behaviour. Therefore, this study attempts to partially fulfill this gap by investigating the structural performance of GFRP-RC beam-column Joints with edge beams. In this paper, four full-scale exterior beam-column joints were constructed and tested under simulated seismic load conditions. Test specimens represent isolated beam-column joints from an end bay between the assumed points of contra-flexure located at the mid-height and mid-span of column and beam, respectively. Two test variables are discussed in this paper; the presence of the edge beams and the shear capacity of the joint under seismic loads. Test results are presented in terms of load-drift ratio relationship, ultimate capacity and mode of failure. Test results indicated that specimens with edge beams showed significant improvement in the behaviour in terms of lateral load-drift relationship and shear capacity of the joint.