Cyclic Shear Resistance of Expanded Beam-Column Joint

This paper presents the strengthening technique for interior reinforced concrete beam-column joint based on joint expansion concept. The beam-column joint is expanded two-dimensionally by cast-in-situ concrete around the corners of the joint. Experiment has been conducted on interior beam-column specimens with expanded joint zone. Experimental results demonstrate a good performance of this method to upgrade the joint shear strength, energy dissipation and ductility. It has been found that by increasing the joint size, the joint shear failure can be prevented. The joint expansion is shown to reduce the joint shear stress. This method is effective to change failure mode from brittle joint shear failure to flexural failure in beams. (c) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.