A Review on Reinforced Concrete Beam Column Joint: Role, Modeling and Recent Details

Reinforced concrete frames are commonly used systems in buildings. The philosophy behind the proper design for this type of frames is to provide them with sufficient ductility. The structural ductility of a frame is mainly determined by the ductility of its components, i.e., the beams, columns, and joints forming this frame. Beam-column joint role in a building is to connect its components together and enable these components to reach their ultimate resistance. Its stiffness, strength, and ductility are key characteristics needed to guarantee efficient building behaviour under the action of different loads. Previous research attributed some building’s damage to inadequate reinforcement details of its joints. Deficiency in joints performance is related to inadequate codes guidelines or to bad construction practice. This paper reviewed the provisions of three different codes (ACI 318-08, Eurocode 8, and ECP-203) concerning the proper design and detailing of different joints. This review study aims to introduce a wider overview on the assessment of joints performance in buildings under different loading scenarios. This data base will enable practicing engineers to identify the joint key parameters with providing different analytical procedures. This study investigates joints in different configurations. These include planner joints, joints with transverse beams, and the common joint situation with the presence of both transverse beams and slab. This survey includes experimental and analytical representation of the previous mentioned joints. Different retrofitting schemes are presented as well for every considered joint. This review allows to identify the evolution of joints capacity in function of reinforcement detailing, level of axial stresses, and loading history. The analysis shows that a decrease in joint resistance can be recovered by using i) haunches brackets, ii) FRP, or iii) post tension metal strip.