Behaviour of RC beam-column joint with varying location of construction joints in the column

According to ACI 224.3R-95 (ACI, 2013), construction joints (cold joint) in the column are to be provided at the top of floor slab for column continuing to the next floor and underside of floor slab and beam. A recent study reveals that providing cold joint of the mentioned location significantly reduced the seismic performance of the frame structures. Since, the construction joints in multi-story frame structures normally provided at the top of the floor slabs and at soffit of the beam in the column. This study investigated the effect of construction joint at various location in the column of beam-column joint such as at the top of floor slab, soffit level of the beam, half the depth of beam below the soffit of the beam and at a full depth of the beam below the soffit of the beam. The study revealed that there is an improvement in seismic capacity of the specimens as the location of cold joint is placed away from the soffit of the beam for lower story column.