• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제8권3호
• /
• pp.801-820
• /
• 2015

The seismic sequence which hit the Northern Italian territory in 2012 produced extensive damage to reinforced concrete (RC) precast buildings typically adopted as industrial facilities. The considered damaged buildings are constituted by one-storey precast structures with RC columns connected to the ground by means of isolated socket foundations. The roof structural layout is composed of pre-stressed RC beams supporting pre-stressed RC floor elements, both designed as simply supported beams. The observed damage pattern, already highlighted in previous earthquakes, is mainly related to insufficient connection strength and ductility or to the absence of mechanical devices, being the connections designed neglecting seismic loads or neglecting displacement and rotation compatibility between adjacent elements. Following the vulnerabilities emerged in past seismic events, the paper investigates the seismic performance of industrial facilities typical of the Italian territory. The European building code seismic assessment methodologies are presented and discussed, as well as the retrofit interventions required to achieve an appropriate level of seismic capacity. The assessment procedure and retrofit solutions are applied to a selected case study.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제24권2호
• /
• pp.141-153
• /
• 2023

The presented paper considers infill masonry walls' influence on the seismic reliability of precast concrete frames. The recent Bojnord earthquake on May 13th, 2017 in Iran (MW 5.4) illustrated that the infill masonry walls play a crucial role in the damage extent and life safety issues of inhabitants in the precast concrete buildings. The incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) approach was used to determine the fragility curves of the represented damaged precast frame. Then, by integrating site hazard and structural fragilities, the seismic reliability of the represented precast frame was evaluated in different damage limit states. Additionally, the static pushover analysis (SPA) approach was used to assess the seismic performance assessment of the precast frame. Bare and infilled frames were modeled as 2D frames employing the OpenSees software platform. The multi-strut macro-model method was employed for infill masonry simulation. Also, a relatively efficient and straightforward nonlinear model was used to simulate the nonlinear behavior of the precast beam-column joint. The outputs show that consideration of the masonry infilled wall effect in all spans of the structural frame leads to a decrease in the possibility of exceedance of specified damage limit states in the structures. In addition, variation of hazard curves for buildings with and without consideration of infilled walls leads to a decrease in the reliability of the building's frames with masonry infilled walls. Furthermore, the lack of infill walls in the first story significantly affects the precast concrete frame's seismic reliability and performance.

• KCI Concrete Journal
• /
• 제11권3호
• /
• pp.191-199
• /
• 1999

A Precast frame system with hybrid beam-column connections was proposed in this study. An analytical study evaluated the system under seismic loadings. Four buildings with different heights were modeled in which each building had three types of joint details (A. B, C). Thus, twelve buildings were examined with variables such as building height and joint detail. Four earthquake records were applied to the buildings as input ground motions. All the records were normalized to the intensity of 0.25g to assess behavior under the same intensity of seismic excitation. All the joint types showed almost identical results except for the Mexico earthquake which was scaled up from 0. 1g to 0.25g. Buildings with the type C joint exhibited the largest deflection for the Mexico earthquake. It was concluded that type B joint could be used in a high seismic zone and the type C joint could possibly be used in the regions of low to medium seismic activity.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• 제24권3호
• /
• pp.223-236
• /
• 2019

Experience of previous earthquakes shows that a considerable portion of concrete precast buildings sustain relatively large damages especially at the beam-column joints where the damages are mostly caused by bar slippage. Precast concrete buildings have a kind of discontinuity in their beam-column joints, so reinforcement details in this area is too important and have a significant effect on the seismic behavior of these structures. In this study, a relatively simple and efficient nonlinear model is proposed to simulate pre- and post-elastic behavior of the joints in usual practice of precast concrete building. In this model, beam and column components are represented by linear elastic elements, dimensions of the joint panel are defined by rigid elements, and effect of slip is taken into account by a nonlinear rotational spring at the end of the beam. The proposed method is validated by experimental results for both internal and external joints. In addition, the seismic behavior of the precast building damaged during Bojnord earthquake 13 May 2017, is investigated by using the proposed model for the beam-column joints. Damage unexpectedly inducing the precast building in the moderate Bojnord earthquake may confirm that bearing capacity of the precast building was underestimated without consideration of joint behavior effect.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제88권1호
• /
• pp.13-23
• /
• 2023

Seismic risk assessment studies are one of the most crucial instruments for mitigating casualties and economic losses. This work utilizes fragility curves to evaluate the seismic risk of single-story precast buildings, which are generally favored in Marmara's organized industrial zones. First, the precast building stock in the region has been categorized into nine sub-classes. Then, seven locations in the Marmara region with a high concentration of industrial activities are considered. Probabilistic seismic hazard assessments were conducted for both the soil-dependent and soil-independent scenarios. Subsequently, damage analysis was performed based on the structural capacity and mean fragility curves. Considering four different consequence models, 630 sub-class-specific loss curves for buildings were obtained. In the current study, it has been determined that the consequence model has a significant impact on the loss curves, hence, average loss curves were computed for each case investigated. In light of the acquired results, it was found that the loss ratio values obtained at different locations within the same region show significant variation. In addition, it was observed that the structural damage states change from serviceable to repairable or repairable to unrepairable. Within the scope of the study, 126 average loss functions were presented that could be easily used by non-experts in earthquake engineering, regardless of structural analysis. These functions, which offer loss ratios for varying hazard levels, are valuable outputs that allow preliminary risk assessment in the region and yield sensible outcomes for insurance activities.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제12권3호
• /
• pp.359-374
• /
• 2017

The seismic events in Northern Italy, May 2012, have revealed the seismic vulnerability of typical Italian precast industrial buildings. The aim of this paper is to present a seismic fragility model for Italian RC precast buildings, to be used in earthquake loss estimation and seismic risk assessment by comparing two building typologies and three different codes: D.M. 3-03-1975, D.M. 16-01-1996 and current Italian building code that has been released in 2008. Based on geometric characteristics and design procedure applied, ten different building classes were identified. A Monte Carlo simulation was performed for each building class in order to generate the building stock used for the development of fragility curves trough analytical method. The probabilistic distributions of geometry were mainly obtained from data collected from 650 field surveys, while the material properties were deduced from the code in place at the time of construction or from expert opinion. The structures were modelled in 2D frameworks; since the past seismic events have identified the beam-column connection as the weakest element of precast buildings, two different modelling solutions were adopted to develop fragility curves: a simple model with post processing required to detect connection collapse and an innovative modelling solution able to reproduce the real behaviour of the connection during the analysis. Fragility curves were derived using both nonlinear static and dynamic analysis.

• 한국건축시공학회지
• /
• 제5권1호
• /
• pp.89-96
• /
• 2005

The increase of hish-rise residential-commercial buildings is required to cut down a term of works and the cost of construction. Reinforced concrete structures and steel framed reinforcement concrete that are commonly used have the difficulty in reducing them. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose a new precast concrete complex system and to analyze its economical feasibility. The economic analysis is performed through comparing the cost of a high-rise reinforced building that was already constructed with that of the new proposed precast concrete system, which is limited to structural frame work of typical floors. This study shows that the proposed precast concrete complex system is economical. Further research should be directed at including the influence of a term of works.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• 제17권1호
• /
• pp.1-27
• /
• 2016

Final construction project cost is significantly determined by construction rate. The Industrialized Building System (IBS) was promoted to enhance the importance of prefabrication technology rather than conventional methods in construction. Ensuring the stability of a building constructed by using IBS is a challenging issue. Accordingly, the connections in a prefabricated building have a basic, natural, and essential role in providing the best continuity among the members of the building. Deficiencies of conventional precast connections were observed when precast buildings experience a large induced load, such as earthquakes and other disasters. Thus, researchers aim to determine the behavior of precast concrete structure with a specific type of connection. To clarify this problem, this study investigates the capacity behavior of precast concrete panel connections for industrial buildings with a new type of precast wall-to-wall connection (i.e., U-shaped steel channel connection). This capacity behavior is compared with the capacity behavior of precast concrete panel connections for industrial buildings that used a common approach (i.e., loop connection), which is subjected to monotonic loading as in-plane and out-of-plane loading by developing a finite element model. The principal stress distribution, deformation of concrete panels and welded wire mesh (BRC) reinforcements, plastic strain trend in the concrete panels and connections, and crack propagations are investigated for the aforementioned connection. Pushover analysis revealed that loop connections have significant defects in terms of strength for in-plane and out-of-plane loads at three translational degrees of freedom compared with the U-shaped steel channel connection.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제21권6호
• /
• pp.627-639
• /
• 2021

Fragility curves are being more significant as a useful tool for evaluating the relationship between the earthquake intensity measure and the effects of the engineering demand parameter on the buildings. In this paper, the effect of different site conditions on the vulnerability of the structures was examined through the fragility curves taking into account different strength capacities of the precast columns. Thus, typical existing single-story precast RC industrial buildings which were built in Turkey after the year 2000 were examined. The fragility curves for the three typical existing industrial structures were derived from an analytical approach by performing non-linear dynamic analyses considering three different soil conditions. The Park and Ang damage index was used in order to determine the damage level of the members. The spectral acceleration (Sa) was used as the ground motion parameter in the fragility curves. The results indicate that the fragility curves were derived for the structures vary depending on the site conditions. The damage probability of exceedance values increased from stiff site to soft site for any Sa value. This difference increases in long period in examined buildings. In addition, earthquake demand values were calculated by considering the buildings and site conditions, and the effect of the site class on the building damage was evaluated by considering the Mean Damage Ratio parameter (MDR). Achieving fragility curves and MDR curves as a function of spectral acceleration enables a quick and practical risk assessment in existing buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제9권3호
• /
• pp.541-562
• /
• 2015

This paper aims at developing the knowledge on the seismic behavior of dowel beam-to-column connections, typically employed in precast buildings in Europe. Despite the large diffusion of the industrial buildings, a high seismic vulnerability was exhibited by these structures, mostly due to the connection systems deficiencies, during some recent earthquakes (Emilia 2012, Turkey 2011). An experimental campaign was conducted on a typical dowel connection between an external column and a roof beam. In this paper, the performed cyclic shear test is described. According to the experimental results, the seismic response of the system is evaluated in terms of strength, stiffness and failure mechanism. Moreover, the complete damage pattern of the test is described by means of the instrumentations records. The connection failure occurred due to the concrete cover failure in the column (splitting failure). Such a mechanism corresponds to a negligible energy dissipation capacity of the connection, compared to the overall seismic response of the structure. The experimental results are also compared with the results of a similar monotonic shear test, as well as with some literature relationships for predicting the strength of dowel connections under horizontal (seismic) loads.