Failure analysis of shear columns to seismic events

Columns which are shorter than normal floor height of the structure are called as short columns. Observations which are made on damaged buildings during earthquakes show that different column heights cause failure during earthquakes. Also if a building has columns with different heights and sections, some irregularities are formed in structure including short column. Displacement, moment and shear force values of columns under vertical loads are related to column height. So the structures are damaged during earthquakes because of these displacement irregularities. For preventing short column damages, regulations are made in codes of some countries. In this study, reasons of short column, effects of short column on structural behavior under seismic loads (moment and shear force) and effects of short columns on structures which have different floor heights from 1 to 10 are studied for different span widths, floor numbers and codes. In this study it is determined that; decreasing stirrup spacing, controlling and limiting shear stress and placing elastic materials between column and walls can minimize short column effects.