Towards the design of reinforced concrete eccentric beam-column joints

The authors have previously proposed a simplified method for the design of external beam-column joints. This paper extends that work to joints in which one of the beams is eccentric to the column. Such connections occur in practice owing to architectural and geometrical constraints. Results are presented for tests on ten specimens in which one of the two beams framing into the column was eccentric to the column. The authors are unaware of any previous tests on such specimens. The tests were designed to investigate the effects of eccentricity and reinforcement detailing on connection strength, cracking and deformation. The tests showed that such connections can be used in practice providing that the torsional capacity of the joint is not exceeded. An analytical model is developed for predicting the strength of such connections and preliminary design recommendations are made. The work is also relevant to the case of joints where the beam is wider than the column.