Experimental examination of damages caused by secondary beams and determination of the appropriate reinforcement and strengthening method

Building damage assessment studies show that the common damages that occur in buildings are the shear damages and shear cracks that occur on the main beam due to the stud beam after examining earthquakes occurring from past to present in Turkey. Stud beams are not subject to the provisions given in the Turkish Building Earthquake Regulation 2018 and are used as auxiliary elements. Furthermore, since there are a limited number of articles or thesis made in the current literature on reinforced concrete stud beam, it has gained importance to conduct research on the subject. For this purpose, damages to the main beam due to the stud beam in the event of a possible earthquake and methods to prevent these damages were investigated. Thus, it is aimed to be a study that will contribute to the existing regulations. In addition, reinforced concrete stud beam related researches have gained importance since there are a limited number of researches made on this topic. Therefore, damages occurring on the main beam due to the stud beam in the event of a possible earthquake and methods of preventing these damages were investigated. Thus, it is aimed to be a study that will contribute to the existing regulations. In this thesis, 6 different samples were prepared for experimental study. In the first 4 experiments, the effect of stirrup spacing and cranked bars usage on the behavior of the main beam was examined, and in the last two experiments, carbon and glass fiber strengthening polymer (FRP) textile materials were used to strengthen the areas that are likely to be damaged in the main beam and the effects of this strengthening on the behavior of the main beam were examined. Using the data obtained from the experimental study, displacement, rigidity, energy consumed and tilt angle graphs were obtained in each experiment. The damages and cracks that occurred in each experiment were interpreted in the light of the graphs obtained and the results of the experiments were compared with each other. As a result, tightening the transverse reinforcement in the area where the main beam intersects with the stud beam and using horizontal cranked shafts was obtained to be good option for new buildings. Additionally, it was observed that the SB-CFRP strengthened beam samples had the best load carrying capacity among all experiments carried out. However, the energy consumed due to low displacement level and ductility of these samples has given lower result than other internal reinforced samples (SB-STR, SB-BB, SB-STR-BB). After comparing the experimental results of SB-CFRP and SB-GFRP reinforced samples, it was observed that the energy consumption of the SB-CFRP sample had a lower but more ductile behavior.