Reinforced concrete structures column failures

Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Reinforced Concrete Structures, Fig. 7 Free body diagram of column after shear failure (From Elwood and Moehle 2005b)... 

In general, in addition to the damage due to flexure, the damage in the joints and the damage due to shear also contribute to the damage and may cause a failure of the reinforced concrete frames. In the example, these sources of potential damage were not considered since the tests and analyses performed on the test structures indicated that the structural behavior was dominated by flexure in the columns. 

Fig. 11.1. Tsunami damage in Thailand and Indonesia (December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami) (a) severe structural damage, Khao Lak, Thailand (b) column failure of a reinforced concrete frame, Phuket, Thailand (c) column failure due to debris impact, Banda Aceh, Indonesia (d) punching failure of infill walls, Banda Aceh, Indonesia." ...

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