Strength Assessment of wedges in the Splice Zone of the Column

Abstract

Splice zone is the lower base of cross-section and a part of column which is also known as lower hinge zone. It is the weaker part of the column so additional reinforcement should be required every time in case of regular pad footing. The presented research provides a way of strengthening the reinforced concrete column by applying wedges at the splice zone. The work is focused on the base cross-section of an isolated footing against deflection, stresses, bending moment, etc. By implementing the proposed work, we can avoid critical damage at the base cross-section of the column & it also provides more stability, thus make splice zone stronger than earlier to withstand the resistance. The two sets of footings are considered in which one is regular pad footing & the other is pad footing strengthened by applying wedges in the splice zone. Both of them are tested under constant axial load and moment. The static structural analysis is done by using finite element analysis in ANSYS 2016 software. Further we will observe the deflection, stresses & also the overall effects of applying wedges with multiple height & size at the splice zone of the column.