Effect of reinforcing details on seismic behavior of RC exterior wide beam-column joint

This paper presents experimental and numerical studies of seismic performance on reinforced concrete (RC) wide beam (WB) joints. Two RC-WB joint specimens and one conventional RC joint specimen were fabricated using the reinforcing details of longitudinal reinforcing bars in a beam as a variable, and quasi-static cyclic loading tests were performed. The results were used to compare and analyze the load-drift ratio relationship, failure mode, and seismic performance of the specimens quantitatively. In addition, a finite element (FE) analysis of the RC-WB joint was conducted, and the rationality of the FE model was validated by comparing it with the test results. Based on the FE model, a parametric study was conducted, where the ratio of longitudinal reinforcing bars placed on the outer and inner parts of the joint (rho(ex)/rho(in)) was a key variable. The results showed that, in the RC-WB joint, an increase of rho(ex)/rho(in) leads to more severe damage to concrete, which reduces the seismic performance of the RC-WB joints.