Predicting Strength of Exterior Wide Beam–Column Joints for Seismic Resistance

Abstract

An analytical model for predicting the strengths of exterior reinforced concrete wide beam-column joints is developed in this paper. In the proposed model, the shear strength of the joint core is derived based on the softened strut-and-tie concept and the torsional strength of the outer joint is determined using the thin-walled tube space truss analogy. Integration and iteration in the computation processes are minimized to enable easier applications in the design practice. Compared with the predictions by current standards, the model shows high accuracy through experimental verification, with an average strength ratio of 1.04 and a coefficient of variance of 0.14. Owing to its superior accuracy, simplicity, and conservativeness, the proposed model is considered as a suitable tool for the practical design of reinforced concrete wide beam-column joints for seismic resistance in practice.