The Existing Condition of Seismic Design for Reinforced Concrete Beam to Column Joints and Anxiety for It
By M. Hirosawa
Concrete Journal, Vol.41, Apr. 2003
- Synopsis
- In this explanative report, earthquake damage to beam-to-column joints of reinforced concrete buildings observed at the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake was introduced and problems to the existing seismic design method for the joint was pointed out through the analysis on them. In the earthquake, remarkable damage to the beam-to-column joint panels mainly in medium-to-high rised reinforced concrete apartments designed by the current seismic standard were observed and most of them were demolished. Through the damage analyses based on the existing ultimate strength design method, it was made clear that the reason why the damage occurred and consideration of capacity reduction due to eccentric connection of beams to a column and the scale effect was neccessary to explain the damage. Although seismic design criteria to the joint panels was regulated after the quake, necessity to consider reduction factors was partialy explained and the condition may bring important seismic defects to reinforced concrete buildings in future.
- Keywords:
- beam-column joint, earthquake damage, beam-to-column eccentric connection, scale effect, seismic design method
