NUMERICAL MODELING OF UNBONDED POST-TENSIONED PRECAST CONCRETE ROCKING WALLS USED AS WINDOW PIERS

Abstract eng:
A new type of self-centering rocking wall that allows gap opening both at the bottom and the top, has been proposed to be used as window piers. This aims to reduce the damage to window piers due to earthquakes. Two different types of precast concrete rocking walls are considered, Wall A consists of a single segment, while Wall B consists of two parallel segments. These walls are connected to rigid beams at the bottom and the top with unbonded post-tensioned tendons. This paper presents a numerical model of the walls using the Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (OpenSees) software framework. In the proposed model, an elastic beam-column element is used to model the precast concrete wall, a corotational truss element for the unbonded post-tensioned tendons, and a series of zero-length elements having compressiononly behavior to simulate the gap opening/closing of the contact surface. The upper beam which is designed to remain parallel with the ground is simulated by constraining the rotational degree of freedom of the beam. The inability of the tendons to take compressional force is incorporated into the model by introducing a tensile rigid link at the end of the tendons. The performance of the model was validated by comparing with the quasi-static cyclic experimental results of the walls.

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