New Experimental Setup for Seismic Testing of Exterior RC Beam-Column Joints

Exterior beam-column joints are commonly tested to investigate the influence of different strengthening and repair techniques on the seismic performances of RC structures. All of the internal forces developing at the ends of the beams and columns need to be applied to the test specimens and these forces need to be proportioned similar to the proportions of the forces in a structure to simulate the conditions of an actual structure during an earthquake. This paper presents a new experimental setup developed to realistically represent the seismic response and behavior of an exterior RC beam-column joint under earthquake excitations. This setup offers a quite economical alternative to the available loading and testing assemblies, made up of several costly loading devices and support fixtures to approximate the conditions of a joint in an earthquake. The present setup was established by using widely-available and inexpensive components to make seismic testing of joints more feasible considering the financial and space limitations of the researchers, particularly in developing countries. The setup also takes into account the influence of the presence of the slab and transverse beams framing into the planar beam-column connection. Three-dimensional exterior RC beam-column connections were successfully tested using this setup.