Seismic performance of novel high-efficient prefabricated RC beam-column joints

A novel and efficient prefabricated RC beam-column was proposed, post-pour concrete was used in the joint core area to connect the precast beam and the lower-story precast column, the connection location between the upper and lower-story precast columns was set above the joint core area, and the connection was achieved by welding the steel sleeves pre-embedded in the column ends. One prefabricated joint specimen and one cast-in-place joint specimen were designed, and the quasi-static tests were carried out to analyze their seismic performance. The results indicated that the prefabricated joint exhibited bending failure at the beam end, with the column end remaining intact and only two cracks appearing in the joint core area, which conformed to the “strong column-weak beam” design principle. During the loading process, the prefabricated joint went through three stages: linear, elastic, and failure, with the hysteresis curve being the fullest in the elastic stage, which indicated good energy dissipation performance. Compared with the cast-in-place specimen, the prefabricated joint showed a consistent trend of stiffness degradation, the prefabricated joint exhibited a consistent stiffness degradation trend, its negative peak bearing capacity was 7% lower, and its ductility coefficient was reduced by 10%.