Seismic performance of RC exterior wide beam-column joints

In this paper, seven half-scale specimens are used to investigate the effects of the beam-column width ratio, concrete strength, and axial load on the seismic performance of wide exterior beam-column joints. The test results show that all the specimens undergo bending damage at the beam end. The concrete damage in the core column is not significant, meeting the seismic requirements of strong column-weak beams and strong joint-weak members. For specimens with small beam widths, the increase in axial load can effectively reduce the damage to the concrete in the outer joint and increase the strength of the specimen. Increasing the beam width and concrete strength reduces the ductility of the specimen while increasing the strength of the specimen. The bonding performance of the longitudinal bars anchored outside the core column is poor, as bond-slip with the concrete is observed during the test. In addition, compared with ACI 318-19, GB 50011-2010 is more conservative for calculating the shear strength of exterior wide beam-column joints. Finally, a corresponding finite element model is established by MSC Marc and verified based on the experimental results.