An experimental research on hysteretic behavior of RC beams under significant gravity loads

This study aims to investigate the seismic inelastic behavior of concrete beams with significant gravity load through experimental analyses. To this purpose, four sample beams have been produced and an experimental program is carried out in which gravity loads are applied by force controlled test procedure whereas cyclic loads are applied by displacement controlled test procedure. The results of tests with gravity load effect are compared with the results of control specimens with increasing displacement loading profile. Experimentally observed damage states and deformation demands are compared with the respective values proposed by Turkish Seismic Design Code. It is found that, the loading procedure with significant gravity load effect leads to the formation of unidirectional plastic hinges. Besides, the deformation capacities of the specimens are found to be much higher than the code based deformation capacities. This thesis is composed of five sections. In the first chapter a literature summary is presented, and the purpose and hypothesis are explained. In the second chapter, the properties of sample beams, test setup and test procedure are introduced. In the third chapter, test results of sample beams are presented. Also damage profiles, load-displacement relationships, moment-maximum mean strain relationships, and equivalent plastic hinge lengths are summarized. The fourth chapter is reserved for the discussion of experimental findings. In this section analytical collapse damage states are compared with the experimental ones. In the last chapter conclusions of the study are emphasized. Keywords: Damage limits, rotation capacity, strain limits, experimental load displacement relations, plastic hinge length