Evaluation of models for joint shear strength of beam-columnsubassemblages for seismic resistance

Abstract

Many parts of the world experienced devastating earthquakes in the recent past. It is observed that those collapsed reinforced concrete (RC) structures are decades old and not designed and detailed to resist seismic loads. Beam-column joints are the most affected structural components during earthquakes due to the discontinuous load path in the vicinity. Since, shear strength of beam column joint plays the major role on the performance of RC structures under earthquake, many models were proposed by researchers to predict the shear strength of beam-column joints using different idealizations, approaches and mechanisms. These can be categorized into plane stress-, explicit-, analytical- and empirical- models. In the present work, these models are critically reviewed and summarized. The concept, parameters considered, significant observations and their limitations of the most promising and robust models in predicting the joint shear behaviour are brought out in this paper.