Seismic Performance of Reinforced Concrete Short Columns Subjected to Freeze–Thaw Cycles

Abstract

Previous research shows that freeze−thaw cycles represent one of the most dangerous threats to reinforced concrete (RC) structures. However, there is almost no experimental data on the effects of freeze−thaw cycles on the seismic behavior of RC columns showing flexure-shear failure. In this study, three columns with the shear span-to-depth ratio of 2.5 were subjected to different numbers of freeze−thaw cycles (FTCs) and pseudo-static testing. The seismic performance indexes of the specimens were analyzed in terms of hysteretic behavior, skeleton curves, shear deformation, and energy dissipation. The test observations show that the failure patterns of the test columns altered from the flexure dominated to shear dominated, owing to the more severe deterioration in shear capacity induced by freeze−thaw attack than in flexure capacity. The test results also indicate that freeze−thaw cycles significantly decrease the ductility and energy dissipation of test columns, and they increase the contributions of shear deformation to the total deformation.

Keywords

• reinforced concrete column
• freeze–thaw cycles
• pseudo-static tests
• failure pattern
• seismic performance