Seismic Tests of Full Scale Reinforced Concrete T Joints with Light External Continuous Composite Rope Strengthening—Joint Deterioration and Failure Assessment

Beam–column connections (joints) are one of the most critical elements which govern the overall seismic behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Especially in buildings designed according to previous generation codes, joints are often encountered with insufficient transverse reinforcement detailing, or even with no stirrups, leading to brittle failure. Therefore, externally bonded composite materials may be applied, due to the ease of application, low specific weight and corrosion-free properties. The present work assesses the seismic performance of insufficiently reinforced large-scale T beam–column connections with large and heavily reinforced beams. The joints receive externally bonded NSM X-shaped composite ropes with improved versatile continuous detailing. The columns are subjected to low normalized axial load, while the free end of the beam is subjected to transverse displacement reversals. Different failure criteria are investigated, based on the beam free-end transverse load, as well as on the joint region shear deformations, to critically assess the structural performance of the subsystem. The experimental investigation concludes that cyclic loading has a detrimental effect on the performance of the joint. Absence of an internal steel stirrup leads to earlier deterioration of the joint. The unstrengthened specimens disintegrate at 2% drift, which corresponds to 34 mm beam-end displacement, and shear deformation of the joint equal to 30 × 10(−4) rad. The composite strengthening, increases the structural performance of the joint up to 4% drift which corresponds to 68 mm of beam-end displacement and shear deformation of the joint equal to 10 × 10(−4) rad. The investigated cases of inadequate existing transverse reinforcement in the joint and light external FRP strengthening provide a unique insight into the required retrofits to achieve different levels of post-yielding displacement ductility under seismic loading at 2%, 3% and 4% drift. It allows for future analytical refinements toward reliable redesign analytical models.