The use of concretes with different strengths in columns and in the others elements of the floor, with the columns having the concrete with the highest strength, has been an option adopted in some buildings. In general, the concrete of the floor is poured continuously crossing the floor-column joint. As a result, the concrete strength in the joint region is lower than the concrete strength of the rest of the column. Since, in general, the joint region is confined by the floor, a doubt on the effective strength of the joint remains. The objective of the present work was to study experimentally the influence of the lateral confinement in the joint region of columns intercepted by beams. The variables were the reinforcement ratio and the initial strain in the tension reinforcement of the beams. In the present thesis, four specimens with beams in one direction and eight specimens with beams in two directions were studied experimentally. In addition, two isolated columns were also tested, one with concrete of same strength of the concrete of the columns and other with concrete of same strength of the concrete of the beams. The compressive concrete strength of the beams and columns were 30 MPa and 70 MPa respectively. The results indicated that the confinement provided by beams in two directions causes a significant increase of the failure load. The increase of the tension reinforcement ratio of the beams increases the failure load only in specimens with beams in two directions. The initial strain in the tension reinforcement of the beams has no effect on the ultimate capacity of the specimens.