Complete collapse test of reinforced concrete columns

In this paper, experimental investigation into the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC)columns tested under large lateral displacement with four different types of loading arrangements ispresented. Each loading arrangement has a different system for controlling the consistency of the loadingcondition. One of the loading arrangements used three units of link mechanism to control the parallelismof the top and bottom stub of column during testing, and the remaining employed eight hydraulic jacksfor the same purpose. The loading systems condition used in this investigation were similar to the actualcase in a moment-resisting frame where the tested column was displaced in a double curvature. Tenmodel column specimens, divided into four series were prepared. Two columns were tested monotonicallyuntil collapse, and unless failure took place at an earlier stage of loading, the remaining eight columnswere tested under cyclic loading. Test results indicated that the proposed system to keep the top andbottom stubs parallel during testing performed well.