Seismic performance of concrete columns confined by high-strength stirrups

The concrete columns confined by high-strength stirrups exhibited higher bearing capacity and better deformation ability. Based on the test results of concrete columns confined by high-strength stirrups under lateral cyclic loading, it is found that stirrup yield strength could not be used directly in calculating bearing capacity, because the high-strength stirrup could not yield at the peak point. Moreover, according to the seismic performance of a total of 49 sets of confined concrete columns from this paper and other 5 research papers, an easy-to-use model of skeleton curve is proposed by using a set of empirical equations to calculate the characteristic points of skeleton curve. Furthermore, based on the proposed model of skeleton curve, hysteretic rules are developed for the unloading and reloading stages by providing calculating formula of unloading stiffness and ignoring the effect of strength degradation. Finally, the proposed model of skeleton curve and hysteretic rules are verified and evaluated by comparing the calculated curves and experimental curves.