Abstract
In an earthquake, a standard reinforced concrete column develops plastic deformation in the plastic hinge region under a strong near-field ground motion. Although the lateral confinement is effective to enhance the plastic deformation capacity, it is likely that the damage has to be repaired after an earthquake. This study aims at development of a column in which a rubber layer is built-in at the plastic hinge so that the column has a 4% drift deformation capacity without damage in the concrete. Prestressing tendons are installed in the column in order to resist tension force in addition to reinforcing bars. A cyclic loading test is conducted for six reinforced concrete columns; one standard column and five rubber layer built-in columns. It is found from the test that damage of concrete in the plastic hinge region is extremely limited in the rubber layer built-in columns.
