Seismic performance assessment of lightly reinforced concrete columns

Abstract

This paper presents results from an experimental study investigating the seismic performance of lightly reinforced concrete columns. The drift capacity of concrete columns is made up of flexural, yield penetration, and shear components, in which those components are affected by aspect ratio, axial load ratio, longitudinal and lateral reinforcement ratio. Very low reinforcement is prohibited by design standards, but such columns are prevalent in many old buildings, particularly in developing countries. A collaborative research project has been undertaken to investigate the collapse behaviour of such columns. The paper presents a summary of the laboratory results and the implications for seism..