Elongation of Plastic Hinges in Ductile RC Members: Model Verification

Abstract

This paper follows on from a companion paper which described the development of a plastic hinge element that can capture elongation of plastic hinges and its effect on other aspects of cyclic response of ductile RC members. In this paper, some experimental elongation data available in literature are used to verify the effectiveness of this newly-developed plastic hinge element. The experimental results compiled in this study are examined to determine the effect of axial force on the behavior of reinforced concrete members; especially on the amount of plastic hinge elongation. Comparisons of the analytical predictions with experimental results show that the proposed model predicts elongation of plastic hinges satisfactorily. The ability to predict elongation in plastic hinges is a significant advancement in assessing the seismic performance assessment of RC structures.