Experimental Study on Axial Compression Behavior of RC Columns Under Rapid Loadings

In this study, experimental study on six RC columns with different slenderness ratios under axial rapid loading was conducted to investigate the axial compression behaviour of RC columns considering the effect of strain rates. The failure pattern of the specimens and the relations of axial loading versus the axial deformation were described. From the test results, the specimens under static and dynamic axial loadings have similar failure model and the strength and the corresponding axial deformation of the RC columns increase with the strain rate. Finally, based on the formula proposed by the CEB-FIP model code considering dynamic strength increase factor for concrete materials, the theoretical dynamic strength increasing factor for the specimens was determined and compared with the experimental measurements. The difference between the forecasted dynamic load-carrying capacity and the measurement for specimens with larger slenderness ratio is relatively larger that of specimens with smaller slenderness ratio.