1.1 General: Strengthening of Beam Column Joint Using External Post Tensioned Rods Seminar Report - 2016

Strengthening of Beam column joint using external post tensioned rods Seminar Report -2016
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
The primary reason for the strengthening of concrete structures are typically to increase
existing elements capacity to carry new loads or to resolve an existing deficiency. There
are many technical factors should be considered when selecting a strengthening system.
Strengthening system can be classified into two categories: Passive systems and active
systems. Passive strengthening systems do not introduce forces to the structure or its
components. Passive systems such as steel reinforced concrete enlargement and the
addition of structural steel elements contribute to load sharing and overall resistance of
the member when it deforms under external loads. Active strengthening system such as
external post tensioning (PT) involved the introduction of external force to structural
elements that would offset part or all of the effects of external loads.
Fig 1.1: Passive strengthening system (externally bonded frp)
Department of Civil Engineering 1 SSET

Fig 1.2: Active strengthening system (external posttensioning)
The beam column joint is considered as the most critical zone in a reinforced concrete
moment resisting frame .It is subjected to large forces during earthquake excitation and
its behaviour has a significant influence on the response of the entire structure. The
absence of transverse reinforcement in the joint, in sufficient development length for the
beam reinforcement and the inadequately spliced reinforcement for the column just above
the joint can considered as the most important causes for the failure of beam column joint
under any unexpected transverse loading on the beam.
1.2 Repair And Strengthening Techniques
A variety of techniques have been developed to strengthen the beam-column joint. These
techniques can be classified into six categories, including epoxy repair, removal and
replacement, RC jacketing, concrete masonry until jacketing, steel jacketing, and
application of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite.
1.2.1 Epoxy repair
Beam column joints were moderately damaged with inadequate anchorage of continuous
beam reinforcement and repaired by epoxy injection. It involves the use of vaccum
impregnation.

Fig 1.3 : Epoxy Repair
1.2.2 Removal and replacement
Repairing of heavily damaged joints with crushed concrete often involves partial or total
removal and replacement of concrete.The damaged structure is usually supported
temporarily to ensure stability.Prior to replacement of concrete ,the damaged concrete
and any loose particles will be removed.Generally,high strength and non-shrink concrete
will be used for replacement.
1.2.3 Concrete Jackets
RC jacketing involves encasing the column and joint region,sometimes as well as a

portion of the beam,in new concrete with the additional longitudinal and transverse

reinforcement.The addition of longitudinal reinforcement requires opening of slab at the

column corners.Beams need to be cored as well to provide transverse reinforcement in
the joint region.
Fig 1.4: Concrete jackets
1.2.4 Concrete masonry unit jacketing
Strengthening of beam column joints using reinforced concrete masonry units (CMUs)
has been analytically studied. Basically this technique requires the existing columns to be
jacketed by CMUs, with additional longitudinal reinforcement within the corner cores
extending continuously through the slabs and later post tensioned.
1.2.5 Steel jacketing
Steel jackets of various forms and shapes have been used to enhance the joint shear
strength. They consist of flat or corrugated steel plates welded in place. The space
between the jacket and joint-column region is grouted with non-shrink cement grout. The
steel parts are mechanically anchored to the concrete to improve the confinement to the

joint.Adhesive or bolts are normally used to attach the steel plates to the concrete
surfaces.
Fig 1.5: Steel Jacketing

1.2.6 Fibre reinforced polymer composites
The use of fibre reinforced polymer as externally bonded reinforcement in critical regions
of R.C elements.FRP materials have a number of advantages over steel and concrete that
make them an ideal material in strengthening the deficient beam- column joints. They are
non-corrosive, highly durable, electromagnetic neutral (except for carbon fibre).
Fig 1.6: Fibre reinforced polymer

2. EXTERNAL POST TENSION RODS
2.1 General
Post-tensioning is the introduction of external forces to the structural member using high
strength cables, strands or bars. The PT reinforcement is connected to the existing
member at anchor points, typically located at the ends of the member, and profiled along
the span at strategically located high and low points. When stressed, the tendons will
produce upward forces (at low points) or downward forces (at high points) to create
reverse loading on the member. PT strengthening systems can be classified into two
categories, External and Internal. External PT involves exposed cables or steel bars that
are anchored directly to the structure. Because the reinforcement is located outside the
member, its use can be limited by fire rating and durability requirements. To improve
durability, systems consisting of sheathed cables and coated anchors can be used.
Alternately, the external cables can be placed inside plastic ducts and then filled with
cementitious grout.
2.2 Application Of Post Tension Rods
The post tension rods are mounted diagonally and fastened to the angles by nuts.Post
tension was applied to the nuts by a torque wrench from the upper storey column level
while the nuts of the lower storey column level were fixed. The torque was exerted one
by one to the rods to limit the eccentricity between two sides of the joint. Otherwise
concrete in the joint core could be crushed due to unbalanced force in the rods.
Fig 2.1 Application of post tension rods

3. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
3.1 Test specimens and materials
It consists of five full scale specimens. Any of the specimens did not comply with the
design principles of both current and former earthquake codes. The column dimension
was 250 500 3000 mm in all tested specimens. The beam with a cross section of 250
500 mm and a half-length of 1500 mm was connected to the column at mid-span.
Plain round bars were used in all specimens as transverse and longitudinal reinforcement.
However, there was no transverse reinforcement in the beam-column joint region. The
longitudinal reinforcement ratio of the column and beam were 1.63% and 2.04%,
respectively. 10 mm diameter plain bars with 90-degree hooks were used as a member
shear reinforcement. The diameter of longitudinal reinforcement bar was 18 mm in the
beam and column.
Fig 3.1: Dimension of the specimen

3.1.1 Specimen without post tension rods (EJ-R)
The test specimen EJ-R is the first specimen of beam column joint. In this specimen there
is no application of post tension rods in beam column joint. The specimens acts as a
reference specimen.
3.1.2 Specimen with rods without post tensioning (EJ-P-1)
The test specimen EJ-P-1 is the second specimen of beam column joint. In this specimen
steel rods are mounted diagonally at beam column joint. The rods are not post tensioned
in this specimen.
3.1.3 Specimen with post tensioned rods (EJ-P-2)
The test specimen EJ-P-2 is the third specimen. In this specimen post tension rods are
applied at the beam column joint region. The post-tension was applied to four rods with a
diameter of 24 mm and length of 1000 mm. In order to fix the rods to the joint region,
four equal angle built-up sections with dimensions of 225 15 mm were used. The
angles also had two holes at corners with a diameter of25 mm.
Fig 3.2 schematic representation of post tension and details of equal angle section

Fig 3.3 Application of post tension rods
3.1.4 Specimen with column back plate (EJ-BP-1)
This test specimen is the fourth specimen. The externally applied post tension rods are
not very effective in reducing the bar slip deformations of plain bars. For this reason, the
occurrence of slippage problem is intended to be minimized by welding of beam hooks
and column longitudinal reinforcement bars for all specimens. Push out forces due to
tension forces in the beam longitudinal bar are transferred to the column longitudinal
reinforcement bars as the beam hooks were welded to the column reinforcement bars.
When the tension force in the beam longitudinal bars reaches such a critical value that
makes the column reinforcement buckle, severe damage can be observed at joint back.
For this reason, a plate with dimensions of 250 950 30 mm was implemented in the
beam column joint.In addition, more confined joint was achieved with column back plate
since the load provided by post-tension can be distributed uniformly.

Fig 3.4 post tension rods with column back plate
3.1.5 Specimen with transverse beam (EJB-P-3)
This specimen was built with transverse beam.The application steps of the retrofit
technique were (i) drilling two 45 degree holes through the transverse beam
diagonally,(ii) holing the rods and (iii) fastening the rods to the steel angles.
Fig 3.5 post tension rods with transverse beam
All specimens were constructed with low strength concrete (810.5 MPa). Since the
seismic behaviour of deficient RC beam-column joints were investigated, the minimum
value of axial load for the columns which is 0.1 Ac fc.

3.2 Retrofit design
The main philosophy in the retrofit design is to eliminate the brittle type of joint failure
by diverting the failure mode of the assembly to ductile beam failure by forming flexural
plastic hinges at the beam-ends. For this purpose, the joint shear capacity is intended to
be improved, which is expected to prevent damage localization at the joints. Thus, the
plastic hinges can be transferred to the beam. In the reference specimen, the shear
capacity of the joint is only limited by the tensile strength of concrete due to absence of
shear reinforcement in the joint. In the retrofitted specimens, the joint shear capacity is
enhanced by post-tensioning. Therefore, the joint shear capacity is the sum of the
contribution of the concrete tensile strength and the load provided by post-tension rods.
Since there are two post tension rods mounted diagonally at each side of the joint, the
necessary post-tension load in one rod is a half of calculated value as shown in the
equation
P= (Eq 3.1)
P, Vjmax, Vj denotes the axial force in one post-tension rod, the joint shear force
corresponds to the tensile strength of concrete, respectively.
3.3 Instrumentation, test setup and loading procedure
A quasi-static cyclic displacement was applied at the top of the column up to 8% drift
ratio under the combined action of the constant axial load in order to investigate the
experimental behaviour of the beam-column joint. Lateral displacements were applied up
to specified drift ratios, which were the ratio of the measured lateral displacement to the
column height. However, one cycle at each loading level was used in the current study to
prevent the softening of specimen and low cycle fatigue failure due to repeating of cycles
at each displacement level.
The column-ends of the assembly were detailed as pin supports. An adjustable frame was
used to fix the double-acting hydraulic cylinder to carry out the lateral displacement. The
horizontally positioned beam was supported by roller supports that were provided by
seven cylindrical rolling bearing units. Thus, the beam-end joint can freely move in the

horizontal direction. Two plates were mounted between the bearing units and the beam
topbottom surface at the beam-end to eliminate the large stress concentrations and hence
to prevent concrete crushing in specified area. Axial and lateral loads were applied by a
single-acting and double-acting hydraulic cylinder respectively. Double-acting hydraulic
cylinder was placed to an adjustable steel frame that allows movement in both horizontal
and vertical direction and the steel frame was fixed to reaction wall. The single-acting
hydraulic cylinder was fixed to 800x800x30 mm plate at the top of the column. This plate
was connected to top plate of pin support by four 3500 mm longitudinal rods.
Fig 3.6 3D view of test setup
The axial load was applied by means of four post-tension rods placed between the pin
support and plate over the top of the column. This plate was also holding the hydraulic
cylinder acting vertically. Since the axial load was always in the direction of the column
axis, constant axial load in push and pull cases was observed in the early stage of lateral
displacement. Due to formation of cracks and crushing of concrete, the axial load was
controlled to keep it constant in the subsequent drift levels. The specimens were laterally
supported by bearing units from the beam-end and top of the column to prevent out of
plane movement.
Two different types of measuring system were employed for the reference and retrofitted
specimens. The column tip and story level displacements, the diagonal and horizontal
deformations of joint and horizontal movement and rotation of the pin support were

measured by thirteen strain gage-based linear variable differential transducers (LVDTs)

in the reference specimen .However, the diagonal deformation in the joint could not be
measured because of overlapping of diagonally placed post-tension rods and LVDTs in
the retrofitted specimens. Therefore, twelve LVDTs were mounted on the retrofitted
specimens in a different orientation. The strain levels of the reinforcement bars were
measured by fifteen unidirectional strain gauges. In addition, one tensioncompression
and two compression load cells were used to measure the lateral load, the axial load in
the column and post-tension rod, respectively.
Fig 3.7 Details of measurement instrumentations on the specimens.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Test results were discussed in terms of response quantities such as strength, stiffness,
stiffness degradation, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the specimens. The
figure below shows the damaged specimens for different drift levels to observe the
evolution of damage.

Fig 4.1 Photographs of damaged specimens at 2%, 4% and 8% drift ratios
4.1 Strength
Joint strength is considered to be the significant parameters that demonstrate the

efficiency of the retrofit technique applied for the specimens. The strength parameters
were investigated in terms of the ultimate lateral load applied to the test specimen and the
joint shear force.
4.1.1 Specimen without post tension rods (EJ-R)
The strength obtained for the reference specimen in positive direction of loading is 47kN
and in negative direction of loading is -46.8kN.
4.1.2 Specimen with rods without post tensioning (EJ-P-1)
The strength obtained in positive direction of loading is 52.05kN and in the negative
direction of loading is -62.7kN. About 21% strength improvement has achieved
compared to reference specimen.

4.1.3 Specimen with post tensioned rods (EJ-P-2)
The strength obtained in positive direction of loading is 54.6kN and in negative direction
of loading is -71.85kN.About 34% strength improvement has achieved compared to
reference specimen.
4.1.4 Specimen with column back plate (EJ-BP-1)
The strength obtained in positive direction of loading is 67.5kN and in negative direction
of loading is -73.95 kN.About 50% strength improvement has achieved compared to
reference specimen. A strength improvement has observed in negative direction
compared to positive direction. This inconsistency in strength may be due to additional
confinement through column back plate.
The strength obtained in positive direction of loading is 81kN and in negative direction of
loading is -73.95kN.A considerable amount of strength improvement 64% has achieved
with respect to reference specimen. It is because transverse beam provides additional
confinement to the joint which increases its capacity.
4.2 Initial Stiffness
The initial stiffness, K, of the specimens is defined as the slope of the line that joins the
origin of backbone curve and the point where 60% of the ultimate lateral strength on the
ascending part of the envelope curve. The initial stiffness provided by post-tension rods
in the retrofitted specimens was higher than the reference specimen due to additional
material in the joint.
4.3 Ductility
The ductility can be calculated by dividing the ultimate horizontal displacement, Du,
which corresponds to the displacement when the maximum lateral load reduces 20% to
the yield displacement Dy. The equivalent yield displacement of each specimen was
determined in terms of global drift ratio. To determine the yield displacement, an
equivalent elasto-plastic forcedisplacement relation was obtained to represent the
nonlinear backbone curve such that the area under both curves in other words energy
absorption capacities are the same.

The ductile behaviour was observed in the specimen EJB-P-3, the calculated ductility of
the specimen was not that much different from the others. On the other hand, u of EJB-
P-3 is almost twice the u of the reference specimen. This implies that the ultimate
displacement capacity of EJB-P-3 was improved considerably compared to the reference
specimen. In addition, the inconsistency in the ductility might be attributed to the
difference in the yield displacements of specimens calculated for the equivalent
elastoplastic forcedisplacement relation.
4.4 Stiffness Degradation
The peak-to-peak stiffness, Kp, is the slope of line that joins the ultimate load points in
the positive and negative direction of the hysteresis loop at each loading cycle. The
normalized peak-to-peak stiffness with respect to the initial stiffness of the reference
specimen versus drift ratio curves is shown in. The peak-to- peak stiffness at each loading
cycle decreased when the applied lateral load devolved into inelastic range along with the
increased level of damage. The sustained stiffness at each loading cycle of the retrofitted
specimens is higher than the stiffness of the reference specimen due to existence of post-
tension bars. Higher the confinement in the joint through post tensioning, the lower the
rate of decrease in the peak-to-peak stiffness was calculated.
Almost 50% drop in the stiffness was observed within 0.5% and 1.5% drift ratios in the
specimens EJ-R, EJ-P-1 EJ-P-2 and EJ-BP-1. The recorded value that corresponds to the
same amount of decrement in the EJB-P-3 was between 0.5% and 2% drift ratios. After
3% drift ratio, the decrease in the stiffness was almost linear. Then, for the drift ratios
greater than 5%, the retrofitted specimens could sustain almost the same level of the
peak-to-peak stiffness with the reference specimen due to reduction in the contribution of
post-tension rods as a result of relaxation.

Fig 4.2 Stiffness degradation curve
4.5 Energy Dissipation Capacity
The energy dissipation capacity at each loading cycle was computed to be the area
enclosed within loaddisplacement curves. The dissipated cumulative energy in the
specimens was obtained by summing the areas calculated for each loading cycle.The
dissipated energy in the retrofitted specimens was more than the dissipated energy by the
reference specimen. Therefore, the proposed retrofit technique is considered to be
effective in terms of energy dissipation. The energy dissipation capacity of the tested
specimens is very similar up to 1.5% drift ratio even though the specimens were in post-
yield region. However, the energy dissipation in the retrofitted specimens undergoes a
sudden increment after 2.5% drift ratio. It should be noted that 2.5% drift ratio
corresponds to the drift level when concrete crushing at the joint was potentially critical
in the benchmark specimen.

Dissipated energy curves

70
Energy Dissipated (kN)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Drift ratio (%)
EJ-R EJ-P-1 EJ-P-2 EJ-BP-1 EJB-P-3
Fig 4.3 Cumulative dissipated energy curve

Table 4.1 Summary of experimental results
specimen D Strength Yield Properties Stiffness Energy Joint panel FT

Vmax results
(kN/mm) (kNm)
(kN)
Vy y u j t c
(%) (%)
EJ-R P 47.00 42.95 0.72 3.12 4.3 2.08 26.45 2.37 1.94 2.90 JF
N -46.80 42.27 0.52 2.88 5.5 2.84 2.31 1.88 2.84
EJ-P-1 P 52.05 47.47 0.79 4.64 6.4 2.09 36.66 2.62 2.18 3.14 JF
N -62.7 56.66 0.59 2.98 4.1 3.36 2.83 2.39 3.35
EJ-P-2 P 54.6 48.88 0.71 4.64 6.4 2.39 50.26 2.55 2.11 3.07 JF
N -71.85 63.02 0.64 2.98 4.1 3.44 3.39 2.95 3.91
EJ-BP-1 P 67.50 63.57 0.81 3.29 4.1 2.73 47.36 3.20 2.76 3.72 BJF
N -73.95 68.40 0.81 2.94 3.6 2.97 3.46 3.02 3.98
EJB-P-3 P 81.00 77.46 1.01 5.90 5.7 2.66 66.05 3.52 3.07 4.03 BF
N -73.95 68.68 0.96 5.07 5.3 2.51 3.46 3.01 3.97
D- Direction of loading BJF- Shortly after beam yielding joint shear failure
P-positve BF-Beam failure
N- Negative
FT-Failure Type
JF-Joint shear failure

5. CASE STUDY
During the year 2012,external post tensioning system was used to strengthen the
damaged beam column joint at a government facility parking structure in the Washington
D.C.The garage is a six storey,freestanding,post tensioned structure with approximately
500,000 square feet of parking area.
The excessive damage of beam column joint affects the structure.As such, initially,the
design team was only considering removal and replacement of the concrete.But this
would severly disrupt the parking system in the garage. It consists of external post
tension rods placed in new concrete jacket that was six inches (150 mm ) wide on each
side and four inches (100mm) thick on the bottom.
The external post tensioning contribute strength to the beam column joint than the
original reinforcement.It consists of 10 grade 1861.58 Mpa ,1/2 inch ,seven wire low
relaxation strands coated with corrosion preventive grease and encased in a continuously
extruded polyethylene plastic sheathing.Longitudinal mild steel reinforcement consisted
of additional 7 number of top bars, 9 number of bottom bars, and 5 skin reinforcement
that extended the full span of the member and installed with 90 degree hooks at the ends
of bars.
Two rows of six 5 dowels were installed immediately behind the anchors to withstand
bursting forces. Four 5 dowels were installed along the entire span at 18-inches on centre
to improve the composite behaviour of the jacket with the existing member. 4 number of
stirrups were placed in the concrete jacket at 18-inches on centre and doweled to the
underside of the slab using epoxy adhesive. Additional dowels and stirrups were
installed at the cables deviation points to allow for proper confinement and force
transfer.
The formwork was designed for a minimum of 100 kPa and detailed to fit tightly against
existing concrete surfaces. After all steel dowels, mild steel and PT reinforcement were
installed, the beams were formed and self consolidating concrete (SCC) pumped into the
forms. When the concrete strength reached 24131.65 kPa , the tendons were stressed by
means of hydraulic jack to approximately 80% of their ultimate strength.

The repair of excessive damage on beam column joint is achieved by external post
tensioning system at half the cost of removal option.
Fig 5.1 Retrofitting of beam column joint

6. CONCLUSIONS
This study sets out to determine the response of five full scale non ductile beam column
joints. All specimens contained several deficiencies resulting from lack of transverse
reinforcement in joint and poor material properties including low strength concrete and
presence of plain round bars. A kind of post tension strengthening technique, which is
diagonally placed post-tension rods to the joint was employed in this study. Based on the
results obtained in this study, the following conclusions can be drawn.
The strength obtained for retrofitted specimen was higher than that of reference
specimen. About 50% strength achievement has occurred compared to reference
specimen.
The initial stiffness of retrofitted specimen is higher than the reference specimen
due to additional material in the joint region.
They do not have sufficient enhancement in ductility.
The measured joint strain in horizontal direction decreased in the retrofitted

specimens. Decline in the joint strains thus led to increase in the beam
deformation.
The retrofitting scheme with post tension bars was tested successfully by a test
specimen with transverse beam. The transverse beam was drilled diagonally
without damaging any longitudinal reinforcement bars.
The post tension rods should be protected against corrosion by taking necessary
precautions such as use of protective layer or coating around the rods.This technique is
considered to be effective as no additional force is developed in the rest of members. It
can be a viable solution for on-site construction operations.

REFERENCES
1. Mohammed H.Mahmoud, Handy M.Afefy, Nesreen M.Karseem,Tarek M.Fawzy

(2014) Strengthening of defected beam column joint using CFRP, Journal of
Advanced Research , Vol 5, pp 67-77.
2. Ozgur Yuradkul , Ozgur Avsar ,Kadir Kilinc(2013) Application of Different

Rehabilitation and strengthening methods for insufficient RC beam column joints,
Advanced Material Research , Vol 688, pp 222-229
3. Ozgur Yuradkul , Ozgur Avsar(2016),Strengthening of substandard reinforced beam

column joint using external post tension rods, Journal of Engineering structures , Vol
106, pp 9-22.
4. Ozgur Yuradkul , Ozgur Avsar(2015), Structural repairing of damaged reinforced

concrete beam column assembilies with CFRPs , Structural Engineering and
Mechanics, Vol 54 ,Issue 3 pp 521-543.
5. www.structural.net.

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Strengthening of Beam column joint using external post tensioned rods Seminar Report -2016

Fig 1.1: Passive strengthening system (externally bonded frp)

Department of Civil Engineering 1 SSET

Fig 1.2: Active strengthening system (external posttensioning)

1.2 Repair And Strengthening Techniques

1.2.1 Epoxy repair

Department of Civil Engineering 2 SSET

Fig 1.3 : Epoxy Repair

1.2.2 Removal and replacement

1.2.3 Concrete Jackets

RC jacketing involves encasing the column and joint region,sometimes as well as a

Department of Civil Engineering 3 SSET

reinforcement.The addition of longitudinal reinforcement requires opening of slab at the

Fig 1.4: Concrete jackets

1.2.4 Concrete masonry unit jacketing

1.2.5 Steel jacketing

Department of Civil Engineering 4 SSET

Fig 1.5: Steel Jacketing

Department of Civil Engineering 5 SSET

1.2.6 Fibre reinforced polymer composites

Fig 1.6: Fibre reinforced polymer

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2. EXTERNAL POST TENSION RODS

2.2 Application Of Post Tension Rods

Fig 2.1 Application of post tension rods

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3.1 Test specimens and materials

Fig 3.1: Dimension of the specimen

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3.1.1 Specimen without post tension rods (EJ-R)

3.1.2 Specimen with rods without post tensioning (EJ-P-1)

3.1.3 Specimen with post tensioned rods (EJ-P-2)

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Fig 3.3 Application of post tension rods

3.1.4 Specimen with column back plate (EJ-BP-1)

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Fig 3.4 post tension rods with column back plate

3.1.5 Specimen with transverse beam (EJB-P-3)

Fig 3.5 post tension rods with transverse beam

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3.2 Retrofit design

3.3 Instrumentation, test setup and loading procedure

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Fig 3.6 3D view of test setup

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measured by thirteen strain gage-based linear variable differential transducers (LVDTs)

Fig 3.7 Details of measurement instrumentations on the specimens.

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4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

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Fig 4.1 Photographs of damaged specimens at 2%, 4% and 8% drift ratios

Joint strength is considered to be the significant parameters that demonstrate the

4.1.1 Specimen without post tension rods (EJ-R)

4.1.2 Specimen with rods without post tensioning (EJ-P-1)

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4.1.3 Specimen with post tensioned rods (EJ-P-2)

4.1.4 Specimen with column back plate (EJ-BP-1)

4.1.5 Specimen with transverse beam (EJB-P-3)

4.2 Initial Stiffness

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4.3.1 Specimen with transverse beam (EJB-P-3)

4.4 Stiffness Degradation

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