Relocating plastic hinges in reinforced concrete beam-column joints by mechanically anchored diagonal bars

•Mechanically anchored diagonal bars are used for plastic hinge relocation in beam-column joints.•Effects of different relocating distances on behaviour of beam-column joints are investigated.•Seismic behaviour of joints is first improved then reduced as the relocating distance increases.•Increasing relocating distance improves effectiveness of mechanically anchored diagonal bars.•The proposed analytical model can properly predict failure mode and loading capacity of joint.