Confinement of Columns and Wall Boundary Elements Using Headed Bars

Abstract

Two series of full-scale specimens were constructed and tested under pure axial load to investigate the effectiveness of confinement provided by headed bars. One series consisted of columns and the other series represented boundary elements in shear walls. Each series consisted of five specimens that included a specimen without any confinement, a specimen with closed ties, a specimen with seismic hoops and crossties, a specimen with closed hoops and headed bars replacing the crossties, and a specimen that had all of the transverse reinforcement replaced by headed bars. It was concluded that headed bars provided a viable solution when used to replace crossties, offering similar confinement. In these monotonically loaded tests, it was also found that headed bars could be used to replace entirely the hoops and the crossties, offering similar confinement effects.