Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

ABSTRACT

This topic describes the experimental results of ten

exterior beam-column joints that employ steel fibre reinforced concrete

(SFRC) and natural rubber latex under cyclic loading. Test results have

indicated that latex modified SFRC increases joint strength and

enhances the ductility and energy absorption capacity of the joint. Also

the congestion of steel reinforcement in the joint and construction

difficulties could be reduced by using latex modified SFRC in the

conventional joint.

C.O.E. & T., Akola

 Seminar 2000-2001

Dept. of Prod. Engg.

 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

INTRODUCTION

In the design and construction of seismic-resistant

structures, one of the most critical areas is the beam-column joint. In

these area, a high percentage of transverse hoops in the core of joint is

needed in order to meet the requirement of strength, stiffness and

ductility under cyclic inelastic flexural loading. Provision of high

percentage of hoops leads to congestion of steel leading to construction

difficulties.

Several researchers have reported their test results

using SFRC in framed beam-column joints. All these tests have shown

the effectiveness of using steel fibres to increase the joint strength,

ductility and the energy absorption capacity. Studies on polymer

modified concrete also reveal that many of the engineering properties

like ductility, energy absorption capacity etc could be improved by the

addition of polymers to plain concrete. However, no attempts have

been made so far to study the combined effect of steel fibres and

polymer on the strength and behaviour of beam-column joints. Hence

C.O.E. & T., Akola 1

 Seminar 2000-2001

an attempt is made in this paper to study the combined effect of steel

fibres and polymer on the strength and behaviour of beam-column joint.

EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME

In the present investigation, 10 numbers of exterior

beam-column joints were cast and tested under flexural cyclic loading.

The overall dimensions and details of reinforcement of beam-column

joint are given in Fig 1. The column was reinforced with six 12-mm

diameter high yield strength deformed (HYSD) bars and the beam was

provided with an equal reinforcement of two 12-mm diameter HYSD

bars at top and bottom. HYSD bars of 6-mm diameter were used for

transverse ties in columns and stirrups in beams. Two different values

of volumetric ratio of transverse reinforcement in the core of the joint

(p.) namely, 0.89 and 1.22, four different values of dry rubber content

(DRC) of natural rubber latex(L) namely, 0.5 percent and 1.0 percent

were used. As the value of volume fraction of steel fibres exceeds two

percent, the normal concrete mix becomes less workable. Hence the

maximum value of V 1 considered is two percent. From the earlier

studies, it has been noted that as the percentage of DRC exceeds above

Dept. of Civil. Engg. 2

 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

one percent, the load carrying capacity of latex modified concrete

decreases drastically. Hence it is limited to one percent. The details of

specimens tested in this study are given in Table 1.

C.O.E. & T., Akola Fig. 1 :- Detail of a typical beam-column joint

3 which
was cast for testing
 Seminar 2000-2001

CASTING OF SPECIMENS

Materials used:-

Cement : Ordinary portland cement (43 grade) conforming to IS:8112-

1989.

Fine aggregate : River sand passing through 4.75 mm IS sieve and

having a fineness modulus of 1.96%.

Coarse aggregate : Crushed granite stones passing through 20 mm and

retained on 4.65 mm. IS sieve and having a fineness modulus of 6.8.

Fibres : Galvanised straight round steel fibres of diameter 0.88 mm

having an equal aspect ratio, A, of 50.

Polymer : Natural rubber latex having DRC of 41.1 percent.

Dept. of Civil. Engg. 4

 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

CASTING:-

For casting the specimens, wooden moulds were used

Reinforcing cage was fabricated and placed inside the mould. The ratio

of cement, sand and coarse aggregate used in the nominal mix was 1:2:4

by weight, with a water-cement ratio of 0.5 by weight. Required

quantities of cement, sand and coarse aggregate were mixed thoroughly.

To start with, 50 percent of the water was added and the remaining 50

percent of the water, mixed with latex and a superplasticiser was added

later and mixing was done till a uniform mix was obtained. The

superplasticiser Complast P211 was added to concrete to prevent the

premature coagulation of the mix, on addition of latex. The quantity of

superplasticiser for different values of percentage of DRC was obtained

from workability test for a flow of 40 cm. The concrete mix was

poured into the mould in layers and the mould was vibrated for

thorough campaction. After 24 hours, the specimen were demoulded

and air dried for 24 hours and then cured under wet gunny bags for 28

days.

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 Seminar 2000-2001

TESTING OF SPECIMENS:-

All the specimens were tested in a universal testing

machine (UTM) of 2943 kN (300 t) capacity. The specimen was

mounted in a vertical position. A constant axial load of 75 kN which

consists of 20 percent of the axial load capacity of the column was

applied to the column to keep the column in vertical position and to

stimulate column axial load. A hydraulic jack was used to apply the

load at the free end of the beam. To record the load precisely, a load

cell with a least count of 0.098 kN(10 kg) was used. The increment of

loading selected was 4 kN. The beam was loaded gradually upto 4 kN,

then unloaded and reloaded to the next increment of load and this

pattern of loading was continued for each increment until failure. The

deflection of the beam at the point of loading during the test was

measured using a dial gauge with a least count of 0.01 mm. Other

instrumentation used during the tests consisted of three linear variable

differential transducers (LVDTs) to record the curvature of the beam

near the joint. These LVDTs measured deformation over a guage length

of 200 mm. The locations of LVDTs are shown in Fig 2. From these

readings, the strains and the curvature were computed.

Dept. of Civil. Engg. 6

 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

Deflection dial
guage

Fig.2 :- Locations of LVDT’s on the beam-column

joint

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 Seminar 2000-2001

BEHAVIOUR OF THE SPECIMENS

In all the specimens cracks appeared near the joint

after the first crack load. As the loading is increased additional cracks

formed. With further increase in loading, the cracks propagated up the

beam and initial cracks started widening. Specimens without fibres

developed wide cracks at the joint and the cracking was more or less

concentrated at the joint. The SFRC joint developed large number of

closely spaced finer cracks and width of such cracks was smaller than

those developed in conventional reinforced concrete (RC) joint. It was

observed that the use of SFRC in the joint core could increase the joint

stiffness and minimise damage to the concrete. The core and cover

concrete were found to be intact.

Dept. of Civil. Engg. 8

 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Table 1 gives the peak load, P u and the deflection at

peak load δ u for all the specimens.

Referring to these the following points may be noted.

The addition of 0.5 percent of V f of steel fibres,

improves the ultimate load by 30 percent. When the fibre content

increases, that is, at one percent of V f of fibres, the ultimate load

increases by about 50 percent. The gain in strength could be attributed

to the following effects of ‘fibre bridging’. As and when microcracks

develop in the matrix, the fibres in the vicinity of such microcracks

intercept these cracks and arrest them which prevents further

propogation of cracks in the same direction. Hence the crack which

appear inside the matrix have to take a meandering path, resulting in

the demand for more energy for further propagation, which in turn

increases the ultimate load. Addition of fibres above one percent of V f

did not enhance the ultimate strength. This may be due to ‘balling

effect’ of fibres and this cn be explained as follows. At higher

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 Seminar 2000-2001

percentage of fibre content, the mix becomes less workable and the

fibres tend to knit themselves in the form of balls with little or no

Table 1: Details of specimen and test results

Desciption ρs Vf Lp P u kN δ u mm φ u x 10 3 /m φu

φy

J1E0L0 0.89 0.0 0.0 21.582 9.35 18.11 1.22

J1E1L0 0.89 0.5 0.0 29.430 18.15 23.88 1.62

J1E2L0 0.89 1.0 0.0 32.373 30.64 35.59 2.44

J1E1L0 0.89 1.5 0.0 28.253 25.22 25.34 1.71

J1E4L0 0.89 2.0 0.0 23.544 19.18 19.19 1.30

J1E0L1 0.89 0.0 0.5 22.563 13.85 20.38 1.36

J1E0L2 0.89 0.0 1.0 18.639 16.85 22.85 1.50

J1E2L1 0.89 1.0 0.5 33.648 32.02 38.09 2.56

J1E2L2 0.89 1.0 1.0 29.430 35.58 45.32 3.04

J2E0L0 1.22 0.0 0.0 28.449 29.09 30.29 2.06

concrete in between which causes difficulty in compacting the

specimens. This in turn may have led to lot of voids in the concrete

and hence might have caused reduction in the value of ultimate load.

With the addition of 0.5 percent of latex, there is a slight increase in the

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 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

strength. However, at higher values of latex content, that is, at one

percent a reduction in strength is observed and the specimen failed

relatively in a ductile manner. This can be explained as follows. When

latex is added to the fresh concrete, the polymer particles are uniformly

dispersed in the concrete phase. As the hydration of cement proceeds,

and the water in the pore drains out, the adhesive and autohesive

polymer particles fill the resulting micropores and the closely packed

polymer and cement particles coalesce into continuous films which

improves the density of concrete and hence the ultimate strength.

However, as the latex content increases, the excess latex will lead to the

formation of weak spots in the specimen, due to air entrainment which

causes reduction in strength. When fibres and latex were added to

concrete the load carrying capacity improved considerably at the

combination of 0.5 percent of latex and one percent of V f of fibres.

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 Seminar 2000-2001

Fig. 3. :- Energy absorption capacity versus F

Dept. of Civil. Engg. 12

 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

ANALYSIS OF TEST RESULTS

Energy absorption capacity

The area under the load-deflection curve represents

the energy absorption capacity of the specimen. Due to the inherent

limitations of the test setup, the load-deflection could be traced only

upto 80 percent of the post-peak loading in the descending portion of

the curve. Hence the area under the load deflection curve considered in

this study consists of the area under the ascending portion up to the

peak load and under descending portion up to 80 percent of peak load.

As several variables like volumetric ratio of

confinement, ρ y volume fraction, V f and aspect ratio, A f of fibres and

the percentage of DRC of latex, L p affect the behaviour of concrete, an

attempt was made to obtain a parameter which gives the combined

effects of all these variables. One such parameter known as

confinement-latex-fibre index was introduced after trying several

combinations of these variables and is given by,

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 Seminar 2000-2001

F = ρ s (1+ V f A f +L p ) .................(1)

An attempt is made to relate the energy absorption

capacity with this parameter F. Fig 3 shows the plot relating the energy

absorption capacity and F.

It can be seen from the plot that as the value of F

increases, the energy absorption capacity increases upto a value of F =

1.35 and beyond that value, the energy absorption capacity decreases.

The reason for this decrease in energy absorption capacity at higher

values of F are due to

(i) the balling effect at higher values of fibre content and

(ii) formation of weakspots at higher values of latex content and

these have been already explained.

Moment curvature behaviour

An attempt is made to study the moment-curvature

relationship for all the specimens using the test results. The strains

measured at 15 mm below the extreme compression fibre and 15 mm

above the extreme tension fibre have been used to calculate the

curvature, φ of the beam for every loading stage using the relation.

å1+ å1
φ = ............................(2)
d1

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 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

where,

å 1 = strain at the level of top LVDT

å b = strain at the level of bottom LVDT

d 1 = distance between top and bottom LVDT

The values of moment M were computed using the

experimental values of load and lever arm. These values of M and φ

were used to obtain moment-curvature plots for the joint.

CURVATURE DUCTILITY FACTOR :-

The capacity of the member to deform beyond its

initial yield deformations with minimum loss of strength and stiffness

depends upon the ductility factor which is defined as the ratio of the

ultimate deformation to its deformation at first yield.

Ductility may be defined easily in the case of

elastoplastic behaviour. However, reinforced concrete members which

are lacking such characteristic, there is no universal definition for

ductility. Thus in evaluating the performance of beam-column joint and

studying the effect of different variables, curvature ductility is defined

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 Seminar 2000-2001

as follows. Ductility factors have been defined in terms of curvature at

critical section and is,

Φu
Curvature ductility factor = .........................(3)
Φy

Where

Φ u = curvature of peak load

fy
Φ y = curvature at yield = ............(4)
Es ( d – x )

Where

d = the effective depth

f y = the yield strength of reinforcement,

x = neutral axis depth

E s = Modulus of elasticity of steel.

The curvature at peak load and curvature ductility

factor thus calculated for all specimens are given in Table 1. From the

table it may be noted that the latex modified SFRC specimens have

given better values of ductility factor than other specimens. This

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 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

indicate that addition of steel fibres and latex improve the ductility of

conventionally reinforced concrete beam-column joints appreciably.

Referring to Table 1, it may be seen that specimen

with ρ s = 0.89 (6 mm diameter ties spaced at 120 mm on centres) with

V f = 1.0 percent and L p = 0.5 percent has given higher values of

ultimate strength (33.648 kN) and curvature ductility (2.56) than the

specimen having ρ s = 1.22 (6 mm diameter ties spaced at 80 mm on

centres). This indicate that the ties/stirrups at the core of the beam-

column joint can be replaced by the addition of steel fibres and latex

without losing strength and ductility.

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 Seminar 2000-2001

CONCLUSION

Based on the experimental study, the following

conclusions have been drawn

(i) Addition of steel fibres and latex, to the core of the conventional

RC beam-column joint region improve the strength and ductility

of the joint.

(ii) By using latex modified SFRC, the spacing of hoops provided in

the core of the beam-column joint can be increased while

maintaining ductile behaviour of the frame. This reduces

congestion of reinforcement in the joint and hence ease

construction difficulties.

(iii) Deflection, curvature at peak load and energy absorption capacity

were significantly increased with the increase in fibre content and

addition of latex. It is true only up to a certain percentage of

fibre content and latex. The combination of V 1 = 1 percent and

L p = 0.5 percent appears to be a better combination than others.

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 Latex modified SFRC beam-column joints subjected to cyclic loading

REFERENCES

1. The Indian concrete Journal

No. 7 ( July 2000)

2. The Indian concrete Journal

No. 11 ( Nov. 1999)

3. Journal of cement and concrete

Vol. 18 ( 1988)

4. Journal of structural Engineering

No. 1, Vol. 24 ( April 1997)

5. The text book on Concrete Technology

By M.S. Shetty

C.O.E. & T., Akola 19