The ultimate strength and deformation of plastic hinges in reinforced concrete frameworks

By comparing the idealized assumption of plastic hinges concentrated at points and the actual spread of plasticity, the validity of the plastic hinge theory of reinforced concrete frameworks is verified and the expressions for calculating the available plastic rotations are derived. Tests show that lateral binding considerably increases the stress-strain capacity of reinforced concrete sections, and this can be employed to increase the rotation of critical plastic hinge zones. Further tests on struts provide information on the curvature distribution along plastic zones.