Shear-critical reinforced concrete columns under various loading rates

This paper presents an experimental study of shear-governed reinforced concrete columns subjected to different loading rates. Four typical short columns were tested cyclically with loading rate of 0.05, 1, 3, and 5 Hz, simulating seismic load. Test result indicated that the loading rate does not affect the column behavior when the rate is up to 5 Hz. Furthermore, Carbon Nano-Fiber Aggregates (CNFAs) were utilized as internal sensors to detect the damage in the column. The test result shows that the CNFAs work well sensing the structural behavior. The CNFA output was further quantitatively correlated to the structural damage level. Finally, a finite element analytical model was constructed to describe the behavior of short columns with shear failure. The analytical model successfully modeled the cyclic loading test results.