Experimental and numerical study of unbonded post‐tensioned precast concrete connections with controllable post‐decompression stiffness. (8th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Huang, Linjie; Zhou, Zhen; Clayton, Patricia M.
• Is Part Of: Structural design of tall and special buildings. Volume 30:Number 7(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-03-08
• Subjects: grooved steel plates -- post‐decompression stiffness -- precast concrete beam‐to‐column connections -- steel corbels -- unbonded post‐tensioned -- variable friction energy dissipaters; Tall buildings -- Design and construction -- Periodicals; Structural design -- Periodicals; 690.1
• DOI: 10.1002/tal.1847
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1541-7794

Abstract

Summary: A new unbonded post‐tensioned precast concrete (PTPC) frame with controllable post‐decompression stiffness (CPDS), achieved by employing novel variable friction energy dissipaters (VFEDs), is proposed in this paper. A steel corbel (SC) is used in the CPDS‐PTPC connection to enhance the shear capacity. The VFED incorporates grooved steel plates and a combination of Bellville washers to provide variable energy dissipation and load‐resisting capacity to achieve target structural performance at different seismic intensity levels. A series of cyclic tests of a full‐scale beam‐to‐column specimen were carried out with different design parameters to investigate the hysteretic behavior of the proposed CPDS‐PTPC connection. The specimen was subjected to cyclic loading up to 9.0% drift to observe different levels of structural damage. Finally, a numerical model is proposed and validated with experimental data, and parametric analyses were performed by varying geometric properties of the VFEDs in the model. Both experimental and numerical analyses confirm the unique capabilities of the proposed CPDS‐PTPC connections to achieve tunable seismic behavior, especially in controlling post‐decompression stiffness while also providing desirable ductile damage at very large seismic demands. The post‐decompression stiffness and load‐carrying capacity are mainly controlled by the stiffness of post‐tensioned (PT) elements and configuration of VFEDs.