Experimental Studies on Seismic Behavior of Exterior SRUHSC Joints

To investigate the seismic behavior of the joints, six steel reinforced ultra high strength concrete (SRUHSC) frame exterior joints were tested. Three levels of axial compressive ratio varying from 0.25 to 0.45 were investigated to determine how this variable might influence the performance of the joints including failure mode, ductility, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation, shear strength and shear deformation by the quasi-static cyclic test on SRUHSC exterior joints. This research program suggests that the design of joint should make full use of the joint panel deformation to dissipate energy of earthquake. It is tested that the value of 0.38 as a dividing point about the effect of axial compression ratio on the seismic performance of SRUHSC exterior joints should be taken into account in design. In addition, the increase of volumetric ratio of stirrup could possess the ductility for adequate response to unexpected strong earthquakes and a recommended value of minimum volumetric ratio of stirrup with high axial-load level is pointed out.