Numerical studies of retrofitted deep coupling beams by bolting restrained steel plate

Abstract

Deep reinforced concrete (RC) coupling beams with low shear span ratios and conventionally reinforced shear stirrups tend to fail in a brittle way with limited ductility and deformability under reversed cyclic loading. Experimental studies have shown that bolting restrained steel plate (BRSP) to existing deep RC coupling beams can enhance the deformability and energy dissipation while maintaining the flexural stiffness, improving the beams’ performance during an earthquake. In this study, a nonlinear finite element package ATENA was used to simulate the overall behavior of three previously tested BRSP retrofitted coupling beams. This paper presents the numerical study for the accurate simulation of BRSP deep coupling beams. In order to obtain the accurate results, the effect of plate buckling is considered in the models. Finally, the simulation model was validated by the available experimental results.