Gravity Load Effect on Seismic Response of Glass Fiber- Reinforced Polymer-Reinforced Concrete Slab-Column Edge Connections.

When reinforced concrete (RC) flat-plate systems are used as gravity force-resisting systems in regions of high seismic activities, they are required to accommodate at least 1.50% drift ratio without jeopardizing their gravity load capacity. The current codes and standards in North America limit the allowable gravity shear ratio in steel-RC flat-plate systems without shear reinforcement to 0.4 for the system to be able to sustain the 1.50% drift capacity. This paper reports the results of an inaugural experimental study investigating the effect of gravity shear ratio on the drift capacity of slab-column edge connections reinforced with glass fiberreinforced polymers (GFRP) reinforcement. Three full-scale GFRP-RC edge connections were tested under a combination of gravity and uniaxial reversed-cyclic lateral loads. It was concluded that the 0.4 limit on the gravity shear ratio can be relaxed in the case of GFRP-RC connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]