STIFFNESS MODELING OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM-COLUMNS FOR FRAME ANALYSIS. DISCUSSION

A discussion of a paper with the aforementioned title by S.S.F. Mehanny, H. Kuramoto, and G.G. Deierlein, published in this journal (Volume 98, Number 2, March-April 2001), is presented. The discusser congratulates the authors for suggesting stiffness models for reinforced concrete beam-columns for frame analysis and agrees that the present ACI Code provisions on effective stiffnesses of beams and columns are inadequate for frame analysis. However, a critical review of the suggested model on flexural stiffness shows that the model has some important limitations. The aim of this discussion is to point out these limitations, and offer some explanation and information that will hopefully complement the paper under consideration.