Influence of Steel and Concrete Strength on Seismic Performance of Concrete Columns

Abstract

<p>Tests of rectangular and circular reinforced concrete (RC) columns were conducted under constant axial load and reverse horizontal load. The test parameters included the steel strength, stirrups spacing and concrete strength when equal volume and equal strength steel replacement were employed. The results shows that, under equal volume steel replacement, the strength of longitudinal bar influence the flexural capacity and drift ratio of columns obviously while stirrup strength has little influence on the seismic performance of columns. The columns reinforced with different strength steel show similar seismic performance under equal strength steel replacement. With increase of stirrup spacing, the deformability and energy dissipation capacity of RC columns decrease. The yield displacement decrease while displacement ductility and normalized energy dissipation increase with increase of concrete strength.</p>