Plastic Hinge Length Assessment of Lightly Reinforced Concrete Columns

The ability of buildings to sustain seismic loading depends on many factors. The dominant factor is the structural elements’ ductility level, which enables the structures to develop a large deformation capacity before collapsing. This can be achieved by forming plastic hinges in beams and columns. The column-side-sway failure mechanism is more dangerous and requires higher ductility requirements for columns rather than beams. Therefore, the plastic hinge length at the columns must be measured. The empirical formula to predict the column plastic hinge length has been proposed in this study by accommodating the column aspect ratio, material properties, and the axial load ratio. A database of experimental test results was used to refine the model, and a good agreement was reached between the model and the experimental test data.