Investigation on the seismic performance of T-shaped column joints

More and more special-shaped structural systems have been widely used in various industrial and civil buildings in order to satisfy the new structural system and the increasing demand for architectural beauty. With the popularity of the special-shaped structure system, its seismic performance and damage form have also attracted extensive attention. In the current research, an experimental analysis of six groups of (2/3 scale) T-shaped column joints was conducted to investigate the seismic performance of T-shaped column joints. Effects of the beam cross section, transverse stirrup ratio and axial compression ratio on bearing capacity and energy dissipation capacity of column joints were obtained. The crack pattern of T-shaped column joints under low cyclic load was presented and showed a reversed “K” mode. According to the crack configurations, a tensile-shear failure model to determine the shear bearing capacity and crack propagation mechanisms is developed.