Seismic Behavior of Slender HPFRCC Coupling Beams with Limited Transverse Bars

The objective of this study was to investigate the seismic behavior of slender concrete diagonally-reinforced coupling beams (DRCBs) with an aspect ratio of 3.5 and to explore the possibility of alleviating the reinforcement detail for DRCBs using high-performance fiber-reinforced cement composites (HPFRCCs). For this purpose, slender HPFRCCs and conventional concrete DRCBs with transverse reinforcement spacing of 110 mm, 250 mm, and 500 mm were made and tested. One HPFRCC DRCB specimen was made without transverse reinforcement for comparison purposes. This experimental study shows that the slender HPFRRCC DRCBs with transverse reinforcement spacing of 250 mm have almost the same strength and drift capacity as those of the conventional concrete DRCB with transverse reinforcement spacing of 110 mm, satisfying the requirement of American Concrete Institute ACI 318-14 (2014) building code.