SEISMIC REHABILITATION OF BEAM-COLUMN JOINTS USING FRP LAMINATES

TLDR

The study introduces an innovative FRP technique for seismic rehabilitation of beam‑column joints, evaluates its performance on a full‑scale reinforced concrete joint, and proposes a design methodology for fibre jacketing to upgrade shear capacity. The repair procedure upgrades joint shear capacity to allow a ductile flexural hinge, and is applied to a full‑scale beam‑column joint tested under cyclic loading with axial column load. The composite laminate system effectively increases the shear capacity of the nonductile joint, as demonstrated by improved behavior after repair.

Abstract

An innovative and practical technique for the seismic rehabilitation of beam-column joints using fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) is presented. The procedure is to upgrade the shear capacity of the joint and thus allow the ductile ftexural hinge to form in the beam. An experimental study is conducted in order to evaluate the performance of a full-scale reinforced concrete external beam-column joint from a moment resisting frame designed to earlier code then repaired using the proposed technique. The beam-column joint is tested under cyclic loading applied at the free end of the beam and axial column load. The suggested repair procedure was applied to the tested specimen. The composite laminate system proved to be effective in upgrading the shear capacity of the nonductile beam-column joint. Comparison between the behaviour of the specimen before and after the repair is presented. A design methodology for fibre jacketing to upgrade the shear capacity of existing beam-column joints in reinforced concrete moment resisting frames is proposed.