Author(s)

L. La Mendola & M. Papia

Abstract

The safety level of moment resisting reinforced concrete frames in seismic areas greatly depends on the dissipative capacity of the "plastic hinges" in the regions close to the beam- column joints, and on the degree to which they operate simultaneously. Seismic codes provide the occurrence of local plasticizations at the beam end regions rather than at the column ends, in order to avoid the poorly dissipative "soft storey" mechanism. If this object is reached, the maximum performance of the whole designed dissipative mechanism generally depends on the available ductility of the base sections of the first-floor columns, which are subjected to high axial forces, and on the effectiveness of the external column joints. Several experimental investigations have shown that in RC framed structures the hysteretic response of such

Keywords