Seismic Behavior of Demountable Reinforced Concrete (RC) Beam-to-Column Joints with Damage-Control Fuses

In this paper, a new type of assembled RC beam–column joint with a beam-end steel cover-plate connection is proposed to achieve seismic toughness and damage control of the joint. Energy-dissipation plates with different structural forms are proposed, and a series of seismic performance indexes of the joints are calculated and analyzed by using the finite element method. The energy-dissipation plate with an arc notch can reach the yield condition faster, and the ultimate bearing capacity of the joint reaches the maximum. The bending design of energy-dissipation plates is carried out by calculating the demand bending moment, and energy-dissipation plates of different structural forms are simulated and verified. The results show that the proposed design formula can ensure that the bending moment at the beam end still maintains elastic deformation when the energy-dissipation plate yields. The important parameters affecting the bending moment of the weakened part in the middle of the energy-dissipation plate are analyzed. Finally, this paper also analyzes the important parameters affecting the seismic performance of the joints. The results show that the seismic performance of the newly assembled RC beam–column joints proposed in this paper is better than that of cast-in-place joints. Increasing the longitudinal reinforcement ratio appropriately can greatly improve the ultimate bearing capacity and ductility of the joints. Increasing the thickness of the energy-dissipation plate, increasing the strength of the energy-dissipation plate, increasing the axial compression ratio of the column, increasing the strength of the concrete, and increasing the strength of the shear web can improve the ultimate bearing capacity of the joints but also reduce their ductility. Under different axial compression ratios, the strain in the core area of the joints is low, and the compressive damage of the concrete is zero, which verifies the effectiveness of the damage-control design of the proposed model.

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