A SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF SIMULATED SEISMIC LOAD TESTS ON REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM-COLUMN JOINTS,BEAMS AND COLUMNS WITH SUBSTANDARD REINFORCING DETAILS

The results of some simulated seismic load tests on reinforced concrete one-way interior and exterior beam-column joints with substandard reinforcing details typical of buildings constructed in New Zealand before the 1970s are described. The tests were conducted using both deformed and plain round longitudinal reinforcement. The interior beam-column joint cores lacked transverse reinforcement and the longitudinal bars passing through the joint core were poorly anchored. The exterior beam-column joint units contained very little transverse reinforcement in the members and in the joint core. In one exterior beam-column joint unit the beam bar hooks were not bent into the joint core. That is, the hooks at the ends of the top bars were bent up and the hooks at the ends of the bottom bars were bent down. This anchorage detail was common in many older buildings constructed before the 1970s. In the other exterior beam-column joint unit the hooks at the ends of the bars were bent into the joint core as in current practice. The improvement in performance of the joint with beam bars anchored according to current practice is demonstrated. In addition, tests were conducted on interior joints with lap splices in the beam longitudinal reinforcement bars near the column face. The tests were conducted using both deformed and plain round longitudinal reinforcement. Tests were also conducted on columns with plain round bar longitudinal reinforcement and inadequate transverse reinforcement.

The reinforcing details were close to identical to those in an existing seven storey reinforced concrete building that was designed and built in New Zealand in the late 1950s.

The test results give an indication of the performance of beam-column joints and members with the above now out-of-date reinforcing details.

The test results reported are a summary of results reported in a number of publications written since 1994.     

Modernity as a “Rain of Words”: Tracing the Flows of “Rain” between Dalit Women and Intellectuals in Tamil Nadu

In this paper I investigate the ways in which modernity in contemporary Tamil Nadu may be understood as something other than a purely exclusionary category. I enquire into the flow of language, imagery, music, resonant phrases and film dialogues that has allowed the values of the Self Respect movement in Tamil Nadu to move as a “Rain of Words” across social divisions of class, gender and caste. Egalitarian humanism and rationalism are here treated as part of a modern “tradition”, allowing us, in the process, to redefine what “tradition” might mean. The central place and reverence accorded to intellectuals in Tamil modernity is explored in respect to political party workers, NGOs, parish priests, and social workers in rural areas. I bring together two aspects of Tamil politics normally treated as separate, or in tension with one another: the egalitarian rationalism of the Self Respect movement, and the cultivation of language for its affective and non-rational elements in the politics of language nationalism. Arguing that it is the latter that has allowed the former to circulate as effectively as it does, I focus on the fresh meanings given to these values by young Dalit girls from agricultural labouring communities, as well as girls in coastal fishing communities in Tamil Nadu.