## 5 Conclusions  
An experimental study on the seismic performance of a novel RCS beam-column joint has been presented in this paper. The exterior RCS connection was designed with an H steel profile, which was covered by two supplementary plates embedded inside an RC column and welded to the steel beam. This type of beam-to-column joint displayed some advantages compared to the existing RCS joint in terms of resistance and construction methods. Based on the analysis of the experimental results, the following conclusions can be drawn:  
* Using an encased steel profile for connecting steel beams to RC columns created several plastic hinges, which increased the ductility and energy dissipation capacity without any impact on the global behavior of structures.
* Using additional plates instead of the stirrups to resist the shear increased the joint moment-bearing capacity of the joint by 19.6%.
* The specimen using additional plates had a failure mode that showed several advantages over specimens using the stirrups to resist the shear. These advantages included fewer cracks and smaller crack openings at the joint region, and a higher energy dissipation capacity at the high drift level thanks to a more uniformly distributed force transmission from the beam to the column.
* Regarding the stiffness, the experimental results indicated that the stiffness degradation was regular and the global behavior was not impacted by local failures. The stiffness of both tested specimens was almost the same at low drift levels. However, the specimen with additional plates was 16% stiffer than the specimen using the stirrups to resist shear at high drift levels.
* Regarding the energy dissipation capacity, both specimens had a high energy dissipation ratio. The mean value of the energy dissipation ratio of the specimen using stirrups to resist the shear was about 22.3% during the test, while this value was about 19.1% for the specimen using additional plates. However, the cumulative energy dissipation of the latter was about 3.5% greater than that of the former.
* Both specimens had a great ductility coefficient (at least 2.5%). In terms of moment-bearing capacity, the specimen using additional plates was stronger than the specimen using the stirrups to resist the shear.
* From the findings of this experimental research, it can be concluded that the studied hybrid joint design was suitable for RCS structures under cyclic loads. In particular, using additional plates instead of the stirrups to resist shear in the shear joint region is feasible from both practical and mechanical points of view.  
[PERSON] and [PERSON] wrote the original draft of manuscript, [PERSON] prepared and interpreted the data, and [PERSON] revised and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under grant number 107.01-2016.06.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.