Bull Earthquake Eng (2013) 11:1447–1466 DOI 10.1007/s10518-013-9442-7 ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER Stiffness and cyclic deformation capacity of circular RC columns with or without lap-splices and FRP wrapping Dionysis Biskinis · Michael N. Fardis Received: 5 October 2012 / Accepted: 9 March 2013 / Published online: 26 March 2013 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract Mechanics-based models are developed for the moment, the curvature and the chord rotation at yielding of circular concrete columns or piers, their secant stiffness to the yield point and the ultimate curvature and flexure-controlled ultimate chord rotation in cyclic loading. The strain criteria for yielding or ultimate are calibrated on the basis of over four hundred test results. Besides the model for the secant-to-yield-point stiffness which is in terms of the yield moment and chord rotation, an empirical one, independent of the vertical reinforcement, is fitted to the data. The ultimate chord rotation is obtained from a plastic hinge model employing a plastic hinge length, the yield and the ultimate curvatures of the end section and the fixed-end rotation due to slippage of bars from their anchorage zone beyond the column length. All models are extended to columns the vertical bars of which are lap-spliced within the plastic hinge and to columns with FRP wrapping and continuous or lap-spliced vertical bars. The comprehensive portfolio of expressions proposed for the deformation properties of circular columns is fully consistent across the various situations of continuous or lap-spliced bars, with or without FRP wrapping, and with models developed by the authors from much larger databases of rectangular columns in similar situations; the aspects specific to circular sections are limited to the mechanics-based section analysis for moment and curvature, a purely empirical coefficient for the secant-to-yield-point stiffness and the empirical plastic hinge length. Keywords Circular columns · Circular piers · Cyclic loading · FRP retrofitting · Lap splices · Seismic design · Stiffness · Ultimate deformation D. Biskinis · M. N. Fardis (B ) Civil Engineering Department, University of Patras, P.O. BOX 1424, 26504 Patras, Greece e-mail: fardis@upatras.gr D. Biskinis e-mail: dbisk@tee.gr 123