Seismic Behaviour of Reinforced Concrete Precast Traditional Italian Frames and Subassemblies

Abstract eng:
The results of a numerical and experimental research on the seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) precast frames and column-foundation connections are presented in this paper. A traditional Italian multi-storey structure, characterized by a total height of 10.8m and span lengths of 5.5m, 7.2m and 14.4m, was designed in accordance with the recent seismic Code provisions for medium-high seismicity zones (OPCM 3431, 2005), then, one of the main two-bay three-storey frame was assembled in the laboratory in 3:4 scale and subjected to a quasi-static cyclic displacement history. A lateral load distribution calculated as a function of the mass and of the storey height was kept constant during the test. The traditional beam-column connections can resist only shear actions; their design is based on the strength capacity without particular considerations about the local ductility. Since it was expected that the behaviour of the connections strongly affects the in-plane global response, the main objective of the test was to quantify the initial stiffness, the maximum ductility and the energy dissipation of the frame. In addition, two precast column-foundation connections in real scale were designed through a model based on local strut-and-tie mechanisms, then assembled in the laboratory and subjected to quasi-static loading – unloading cycles at increasing displacement at the top of the columns. The aim of these tests was to evaluate the reliability of the adopted design method and to compare the experimental results with the potential performances of alternative seismic solutions.

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