Experimental Investigation on the Limitation of Axial Load Level of RC Columns in Seismic Regions

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study on the limitation of the axial load applied to reinforced concrete (RC) frame columns with circular, square and diamond sections. Based on seismic tests of 14 large-scale column specimens under low frequency cyclic lateral load, the failure pattern, the hysteresis effects, the skeleton curves, the energy dissipation capacity, and the stiffness degradation laws of RC frame columns with different section shapes were investigated. Besides the effects of shear span to depth ratio and the volumetric stirrups ratio, the effect of axial load level on the seismic performance of RC frame columns are emphasized and were analyzed in detail. It is shown that it is necessary to limit the axial load applied to RC frame columns in seismic regions. The limitation value is strongly dependent on the cross-sectional shape as well as the volumetric stirrups ratio and the shear span to depth ratio. Some suggestions on the seismic design of RC columns with a higher axial load level are recommended.

Keywords

columns reinforced concrete (RC)axial load level seismic behavior

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