Seismic response of reinforced concrete frame subassemblages — a Canadian code perspective

Abstract

The 1984 CSA standard for the design of concrete structures for buildings provided new seismic design and detailing requirements for concrete structures. Full-scale, reversed cyclic loading tests of reinforced concrete beam–slab–column subassemblages were carried out to investigate the seismic performance of frame structures designed with the latest Canadian code. The test results indicate the importance of including the influence of slab reinforcement in computing the beam capacity as well as the need to carefully design the joint regions for shear. The test results indicate the excellent performance of frame components designed with K = 0.7 (R = 4.0) and the poor performance of those designed and detailed with K = 2.0 (R = 1.5). The performance of subassemblages designed with K = 1.3 (R = 2.0) depends on the column to beam strength ratio and on the shear strength of the joints. Models to predict the flexural response as well as the shear response of key elements are described and the role of the spandrel beam in limiting the effective slab width is explained. Key words: seismic design, reinforced concrete, detailing, structures, codes.