Comparison of recent New Zealand and United States seismic design provisions for reinforced concrete beam-column joints and test results from four units designed according to the New Zealand code

Abstract

A comparison is made of the seismic design provisions for reinforced concrete beam-column joints required by the new New Zealand concrete design code NZS 3101 and recently proposed United States procedures. Large differences are shown to exist between these new provisions of the two countries. Results are reported
of cyclic load tests which were conducted according to the requirements of the new NZS 3101. The test results showed that location
of plastic hinges in beams away from the column faces may be of considerable advantage in the design of joints, when member sizes are small and joint shears are high, due to less congestion of reinforcement and better anchorage conditions.