This paper aims to study the seismic performance of exterior beam-column joints in building
frames strengthened by ferrocement using nonlinear finite element analysis. Firstly, the proposed
model was used to predict experimental results successfully. Secondly, a parametric study was
carried out to assess the behavior of such joints with different additional variables. The studied
variables were the level of axial loading on the column, compressive strength of specimens,
percentage of longitudinal reinforcement in the beam, and orientation of expanded wire mesh in
ferrocement layer, for specimens strengthened by different number of ferrocement layers. It was
found that strengthening specimens by ferrocement reduced the effect of axial loading level and
longitudinal steel ratio in the beam on the ultimate load of studied specimens. In addition,
changing the orientation angle of expanded wire mesh from 60° per ferrocement layer to 45° has
a minor effect on the ultimate load but it has a significant effect on the ductility of studied
specimens. The effect of orientation angle became less significant on the ductility with increasing
the number of ferrocement layers used for strengthening. These findings would be helpful to the
engineers to develop suitable, feasible and efficient upgrading technique for poorly designed
building frame structural joints in seismic zones. |
