A new method to pervent reinforced concrete columns from the brittle failure. The mentod is called transversely reinforcing method in which only the critical regions are confined in steel tube. The steel tube can change the failure mode of the latter columns from the shear to the flexure. The steel tube also increse the compressive strength, shear strength and deformation capacity of the infilled concrete. The following discussions are reached on bases of the experimental study on the seismic performance of the high-strength RC rectangular short columns confined in steel tube with shear span to depth ratio of 1.0 and 2.0