Seismic Resistance of R/C Exterior Connections with Floor Slab

Experience from past earthquakes has shown that beam‐to‐column connections play a critical role in the survival of reinforced concrete momentresisting frame buildings. It is thus important to develop design procedures that will ensure a satisfactory performance of connections during an earthquake. The current practice for the design of connections has evolved from laboratory testing of a large number of beam‐to‐column connections subassemblies. However, most of these tests did not include a slab, which, in a real building, is invariably an integral part of the framing system. Recently, some concern has been shown on the effect of the presence of a slab on the behavior of connections. The main objective of this investigation was to study the effect of the presence of a slab on the behavior of exterior beam‐to‐column connections. A total of six three‐quarter scale beam‐to‐column connection subassemblies were tested under a simulated earthquake‐type loading. The primary test variable was the width of the floor slab. The test results show the slab to have a significant effect on the strength, stiffness, and energy dissipation characteristics of connections and strongly suggest that ignoring the presence of a slab in the design of connections may not be appropriate.