A study on pushover analyses of reinforced concrete columns

This paper proposes a realistic approach to pushover analyses of reinforced concrete (RC) structures with single column type and frame type. The characteristic of plastic hinge of a single RC column subjected to fixed axial load was determined first according to column's three distinct failure modes which were often observed in the experiments or earthquakes. By using the determined characteristic of plastic hinge, the pushover analyses of single RC columns were performed and the analytical results were investigated to be significantly consistent with those of cyclic loading tests. Furthermore, a simplified methodology considering the effect of the variation of axial force for each RC column of the frame structure during pushover process is proposed for the first time. It would be helpful in performing pushover analysis for the structures examined in this study with efficiency as well as accuracy.