Nonlinear Modeling of Reinforced Concrete Beam-Column Joints

Abstract

The performance of reinforced concrete moment resisting frame structure under a seismic activity is
reflected by the behavior of beam-column joint as revealed by various experimental studies. Beam-column joint plays a
vital role in maintaining the structural integrity and the failure of joint often leads to the failure of whole structure. On
the other hand, beam-column joints are usually assumed as rigid zones and the nonlinear inelastic behavior is generally
not considered which as a consequence leads to underestimation of the story drift and misleading results. This paper
presents a beam-column joint panel zone modeling technique for simulating the shear deformation in a reinforced
concrete moment resisting frame. A parametric study is conducted and various factors such as cracking shear rigidity,
cracking moment, and the opposed respective curvatures is discussed and the response of hysteretic loops to these
parameters is evaluated using a finite element software.