Deformation Capacity of RC Beam-Column Joints Strengthened with Ferrocement

Abstract

Beam-column joints constructed in the pre-seismic building code do not provide transverse reinforcement and good reinforcement detailing within the region. These cause the occurrence of brittle shear failure, which is one of the factors affecting the number of reinforced concrete (RC) moment resistance building structures collapsing during an earthquake. Therefore, in this study a brittle beam-column joint with a non-seismic building code was designed and strengthened by a ferrocement. Four layers of wire mesh with a diameter of 1 mm and a mesh size of 25.4 mm were installed on both sides of the beam-column joint and cement mortar was cast on it. As a comparison, a ductile beam-column joint was also designed following the current building code, which considers seismic effects. The test results by applying reversed cyclic loading at the beam tip showed that strengthening using ferrocement prevents crack propagation, increasing the deformation capacity, ductility, stiffness, and energy dissipation of beam column joint which are higher than those of the beam-column joint which is designed following the current building code. However, the strengthening does not improve the load carrying capacity significantly.