Improving RC seismic design through the CFP method Available to Purchase

Earthquake-resistant design of concrete structures in accordance with the philosophy of current codes of practice can sometimes lead to early collapse that satisfies neither the assumed failure mode nor the ductility requirement of an element. Minor modifications to existing design rules for monotonic loading in accordance with the compressive force path (CFP) method are suggested. On the basis of the test results reported herein, these modifications are proven to ensure both ductile failures and sufficiently high ductility ratios under seismic conditions. Essentially, the modifications consist of increasing the number of hoop stirrups in the compressive zone(s) and extending their location along the span of the element, as well as increasing the number of stirrups extending throughout the cross-section height at the location of change in the CFP direction when the distance of this location from the load point is smaller than, or equal to, twice the depth of the effective height of the cross section.