Seismic behavior of reinforced concrete exterior beam-column joints strengthened by ferrocement composites

摘要

This paper presents an experimental study to assess the effectiveness of using ferrocement to strengthen deficient beam-column joints. Ferrocement is proposed to protect the joint region through replacing concrete cover. Six exterior beam-column joints, including two control specimens and four strengthened specimens, are prepared and tested under constant axial load and quasi-static cyclic loading. Two levels of axial load on column (0.2fc'Ag and 0.4fc'Ag) and two types of skeletal reinforcements in ferrocement (grid reinforcements and diagonal reinforcements) are considered as test variables. Experimental results have indicated that ferrocement as a composite material can enhance the seismic performance of deficient beam-column joints in terms of peak horizontal load, energy dissipation, stiffness and joint shear strength. Shear distortions within the joints are significantly reduced for the strengthened specimens. High axial load (0.4fc'Ag) has a detrimental effect on peak horizontal load for both control and ferrocement-strengthened specimens. Specimens strengthened by ferrocement with two types of skeletal reinforcements perform similarly. Finally, a method is proposed to predict shear strength of beam-column joints strengthened by ferrocement.