Reinforced concrete exterior beam-column joints under seismic loading

An experimental investigation into the behaviour of exterior beam-column joints of reinforced concrete frames with low axial load is described. Three beam-column test units which had been designed by different methods were tested under the same programme of static cyclic loading and compared. The design parameters examined were the methods of anchoring the longitudinal beam reinforcement within the column and the amount of transverse shear reinforcement within the joint region. The joints of all three specimens proved to be inadequately reinforced to resist the large joint shears present under intense seismic loading conditions in the inelastic range.