EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT CRITERIA FOR TPRECAST CONCRETE: STRUCTURES Prane Sauter F. (*) somere ‘This paper emphasizes the need for adequate and sound detailing of the connections in precast concrete structures for seismic regions. Continuity in the joints and hich redundancy of the systen are encouraged for structur~ al integrity and to allow for stress redistrinution during severe earthquake motions. Methods for assuring continuity in the precast structural systen, which take advantage of the industrialized manufacturing process, as well as of redundancy for good perfomance during extreme events, are presented for bridges, industrial and multistory buildings. “DerRoDUCTION In the past decades the precast concrete industry has experienced a phe nonenal growth, and prefabrication has found application in almost every Held of civil engineering projects, being the basis for technical progress im construction. Prefabricated clenents, prestressed or conventionally rein- forced, have becone an inportant method for franing structures. Production of the structural members in a manufacturing plant allows the use of high- Strength concrete, improved quality control, accelerated curing techniques , land the reduction of erection and construction tine. The economy of precast systens lies mainly in the repetitive use of similar shapes and in the sim- plicity of the joint details. This has led many designers to adopt simple spans and hinged joints or other types of welded and bolted connections. The absence of continuity and redundancy in these precast structures, has caused any engineers to be concerned about the stability of prefabricated systens, fan to question their ability to resist high lateral loads induced by strong earthquakes. The reluctance to use precast concrete in seismic areas is par~ tially due to the lack of experience and knowledge about the performance of this construction method. Furthermore, there 1s not enough research work and ewerinental data on precast structures and their joints subjected to cyclic loading. Also, earthquake resistant design provisions in building codes for precast construction are nonexistent or vague. Experience from past seianic events has shown that damage, and in some cases the spectacular collapse, of prefabricated structures of bridges and buildings was dus, either to a misconception of the structural systen, which lacked lateral stability and strength, or to the failure of the connections, which showed deficiencies in detailing and vorkmanship. Causes of failure are also inadequate bearings, the inability of the system to undergo large Gisplacenents, and the lack Of restraint to avoid menbers dropping from the supports. On the other hand, vell designed precast structures have shown ex cellent behavior during strong earthquakes, sinilar to that of cast-inplace concrete structures. Tus, experience has shown that connections are weak points in precast systens and that contimuity at the Joints, high redundancy and structural integrity, are premises for good performance. Also, concep- (*) Consulting Engineer, San José, Costa Rica. 629cual design and sound detailing, rather than sophisticated numerical «alysis, are the most inportant aspects for achieving economical prefabricated systens, Prestressed concrete is specially well suited to precast construction and many prefabricated structures include pretensioned elenents Jointed to~ Gether by post-tensioning. This 4a the reason for code provisions, research Gata and technical papers to take frequently prestressed and precast concrete 25 synonymous. Both systens should be clearly differenciated as two distince Construction methods which can, nevertheless, conplenent each other. BuTLDINs Structural systems Precast concrete structures require great experience, knowledge about ‘their behavior during earthquakes and engineering judgenent in selecting the appropiate structural systen. The prefabricated elemants can be used ina Variety of ways end can be integrated to different structural systems, which can be classified in five categories: Structures with precast menbers incorporated purely as secondary and floor units. The main vertical and lateral load carrying systen is in con- ventional cast-in-place construction. The only requirenent that the precast elements should neet regarding aseisaic design is that the Floors act as rigid diaphragns to distribute lateral loads to the resisting elements. 2, Buildings with precast frames with simple supported menbers as the vertical load carrying systen. These hybrid structures have no monent-resis~ fant connections and in the absence of frame action fully rely for lateral stability and resistance on the use of elevator and staireay shafts and on precast or cast~in-place shear walle. Although they may contain hinged Joints, semirigia connections are recommended, as theycontribute to higher Eedundancy. The Giaphragm mst be conveniently Goweled to the earthquake re, sistant system; adequate connections for transfering shear forces and ten- ile continuity between precast elenents are essential for structural inte, grity. 3. Pully framed precast concrete structures with monent-resistant con~ nections. Lateral stability and strength are provided by frame action of the precast system, which contains rigid joints capable of transmitting flexural monents and the forces induced by earthquake motions. Totally precast, duc~ tile moment-resistant frames are difficult to achieve; more frequently com posite alternatives with cast~in-place reinforced concrete joints, offer su perior solutions. Precast menbers in nonent-resistant frames may also be Connected by post-tensioning. Frames assembled with precast elements and rig idly joined together, are assumed to be equivalent to similar cast-in-place frame structures ( ROf. 1). 4. Composite systems including monent-resistant precast franes and shear walls assenbled with prefabricated panels or cast~in-place 5. Box-type structures assembled with precast concrete floor and vall panels. The vertical and lateral load-carrying system consists of prefebri- cated bearing and shear walls in both orthogonal directions. Poured in sity 630vertical and horizontal joints between wall panels are preferred. The design of industrial and multistory buildings in precast concrete is essentially sinilar to that of cast-in-place systems, the main difference Lies in the design and detailing of the connections. Precast nonentresistant Eranes with rigid joints are not widely used as a primary lateral load resis tant system in the U.S.A. (Ref.2), bat many applications are known in Europe, New Zealand (Refs.1,3) and in Central and South Anerica. They may be used economically in buildings up to 8 stories high. Tall buildings with precast rigid franes without shear walle are genezally avoided, since full monent re~ sisting joints becone rather difficult and expensive. Thus, precast buildings over 8 stories fall nostly in the category of composite or box-type aystens. Eloor Diaphragns. The stability of prefabricated concrete structures is dependent on the Alaphram action of the floors. As part of the lateral load resistant system, ‘the diaphragn is designed as a rigid horizontal beam to distribute lateral loads to the resisting clenents. The connections between adjacent precast units mast tie ali elenents together and provide sufficient shear strengthto fact as an integral bean web. A cast~in-place reinforced concrete topping (Pigd) is by far the most effective solution, but may add too mich weight to ‘the structure. Mechanical connections may be used for this purpose but they result in high stress concentrations and tend to brittle failure. Continous poured in situ strips with spliced or overlapped reinforcement (Fig.5) are preferred, as they result in more uniform force transfer and stress distri- bution. Enough peripheral tie beans and flange reinforcement should be pro- vided to develop flexural resistance and assure monolithic diaphragm action. nypes of Joints. ‘The most serious problem facing the precast industry is finding a reli- able and economic method to join prefabricated menbers. Connections are 1o- cations of high stress concentrations and are weak points in the structural system; they have to withstand high forces and displacenents during strong earthquakes. Thus, to properly design and detail joints is the most important factor in achieving safe and economical precast structures. In detailing con nections, the probien of fabrication and erection should no be overlookedy ‘the simpler the design concept, the easier its construction and the better its performance. Three types of joints are distinguished: 1.Bubedded stool shapes anchored to the precast members by studs or rods and the connection completed with site welding or bolting; they are known as "ry" connection, 2.Poured in situ reinforced concrete joints with dowels and reinforcement ‘either eplicea, lapped or welded, and known as"wet"connections. 3.Post-ten~ Sioning the precast elenents together with tendons crossing the joints. Many types of ry"connections with mechanical devices and fasteners have been developed. slevertheless,failure of the connections by shearing of ‘studs, pull-out of the anchor rode, splitting of the concrete, brittle fail. lure of the welds and bolt threads during earthquakes (Ref.1,4), indicate ‘that dry of mechanical connections are points of high stress concentrations and represent veak points in the systen,which can jeopardize its structural integrity and safety. Also, most of the danace and collapses of precast structures was mainly due ¢o the failure of the connections (Ref.4). Tt was eatshown that workmanship in field connections is an important factor of uncer- tainty (Ref.3) and it appeara that site welding is very susceptible to brittle Failure."Dry" connections, when properly designed and built, seem more suit- able for panel walls and floor eystens in low-rise buildings. Considerations mentioned above lead to prefer “wet cast~in-place rein- forced concrete, or post-tensioned joints. The author advocates and encour~ ages the use of this type of connections, as they show excellent performance Guring earthquakes, they tend to behave monolithically, provide continuity and higher redundancy, and add to the structural integrity of the system. Connections in Framed structures. Bean-column connections are classified as rigid, senirigid, and hinged. Rigid connections are Incorporated into franed structures as monent-resistant joints to provide resistance against gravity and earthquake loads. They are capable of transmitting monents, shear and axial forces. Semirigia connec tions are similar to rigid ones, except they have lower yielé-nozents and do not develop full continuity. Simple supported and hinged joints are designed to resist gravity loads only and have no monent-resistance ‘The majority of rigid bean-column connections will utilize castin-place reinforced concrete Joints. Continuity is achieved by splicing, overlapping (Figs.1,2a) or welding the reinforcement; steel hoops are provided within the Joint to confine the concrete. Rigia connections can also be built by passing Eandons through the joint, this post-tensioning the precast members together and putting the joint under compression (Pig.2b). This type of connection is encouraged by many designers and by the FIP Commission (Ref.5). The interfa of the members should be roughened or Keyed to ensure good shear transfer. The joints are grouted and usually no mild steel bars pass through the joint. Monent reversals during earthquakes will require joints to have bothnesative and positive moment resistance, hence tendons should be placed at the joint near both extrene fibers of the section, except when positive flexural Strength is provided by lapping mil eteel reinforcenent (Pig.2a). Several projects have used spacial cruciform or T-shaped bean/colunn sections with Joints located at points of low flexural stress, but these elements may pre Sent problens in fabrication and transport due to their shape. Both joint types, cast-in-place and post-tensioned, are currently the most reliable means of connecting precast menbers and are used in ductile noment-resistant frames. Research work in Nev Zealand indicates these joints and systems to Ihave good energy dissipation capacity. Nevertheless additional research is, necessary to test the behavior of these joints under cyclic loading. Rigid colum-foundation connections are shown in Figs.3.a-b. Wall Panel structures. Shear connections between floor and wall panels in precast box-type structures may be "ary? “wet? or may be connected by post-tensioning. Dry joints are points of high stress concentrations, which may lead to procre: Bive joint deterioration (Ref.6) Thus, "wet! poured in situ strips with over lapped hooks or dowels (Pig.6) are preferred over mechanical devices and they are nore reliable and effective(Ref.7), They can be constructed with simple details and are econcnical tests carricd out in Japan(Ref.2) showed that precast panels connected by wet joints behaved monalithically and those with 632ary joints tended to behave independently. For vertical elenents continuous reinforcing bars or post-tensioning tendons are necessary to assure continu, ity, and to resist overturning moments. Syatens have Bean proposed in which vertical connections in precast large panel walls are the primary energy dis, sipation mechaniam and include strong horizontal and weak vertical Joints (Ref8 ‘BRIDGES Many bridges collapsed during recent earthquakes mainly because of inad equate bearing details and dus to the lack of longitudinal vestraint 0 ex: trene displacenents(Ref.9). These events vividly denonstrated the vulnera- bility of bearing assenblies commonly used, which were not designed to with- stand the large dynamic forces and isplacenents induced by seismic events. Bridges designed for very high force levels were a seismic failure because of inadequate and weak details and when no restraints were provided. Therefore, detailing for displacenants rather than for strength, becomes one of the most important aspects in seismic bridge design. Structural integrity can only be obtained Lf extrene displacements are controlled to prevont any span elenents dropping from their supports. Rela~ tive merits of continuous vrs. simple span construction should be evaluated. Continuity will add to redundancy and structural integrity of the bridge sys tem and will reduce the probability of collapse. Continuous bean systems for ‘the superstructure allow nore rational design, reduce maintenance costs of expansion joints over piers, and show better earthquake resistance and behav Sor (Refs.9,10). they can be built with precast girders; the continuity over supports can be achieved with negative reinforcenent in the deck slab and lapping positive reinforcenent (Pig.9), or by post-tensioning. In the absence of a continuous system, adjacent spans should be linked together (Ref.9,10) by cables or rods over piers and abutments (Fig.7a,b) Seis nic blocks of shear keys which project from the pier or abutment cap provide Limitation to extrene displacenants in longitudinal (Figs 7b,Ga)and in trans~ verse direction (Fig.10). Expansion bearings at the seisaic blocks guide the superstructure laterally (Pig. 10). Rubber rings act as buffers to veduce in~ pact damage and to absorb shock energy in case the displacenents exceed the caleulated clearance. when simple, multiple span bridges are adopted, a hing fed Linkage slab over intermediate supports (Fig.8b)provides a better andmore efficient method to tie adjacent spans Ref.9) .It forms part of the deck slab and constitutes a horizontal diaphragn to distribute transverse lateral loais to the piers and abutnents.It is also a positive longitudinal Linkage which allows to transfer earthquake forces to conveniently selected #ixed supports, say to an abutment or to a massive pier of low height, thus allowing to de- sign slender intermediate piers with expansion bearings, maintaining then free of horizontal earthquake forces in longitudinal airection. Continuity ‘and hinged Linkage slabs are the two methods preferred to obtain structural integrity and to prevent span collapse, instead of costly mechanical devices. tien only a fixed support is provided in continvous or Linked bridges, say at an abutment and the other supports are expansion bearings, the fixed support will resist all the horizontal, longitudinal forces. In very long bridges it is not economical, nor possible to provide only one fixed support, and intermediate high piers designed as fixed points of the system, will be 633too massive and costly. To overcome this problem, mechanical oil dampers can be provided at movable supports,which allow slow movenents due to shrinkage, creep and temperature, but develop great resistance to instantaneous dis- placenents caused by earthquakes ( Ref.11). ‘conctsz0xs Selection of the structural systen for precast concrete bridges and buildings and proper sound detailing is by far more inportant than sozhiets cation in estimating seismic denand or in numerical analysis. it is not so much how the problen ie analysed, but rather how the prefabricated structure is conceived and detailed. Connections should be carefully designed with view to continuity and structural integrity. Cast-in-place reinforced con~ crete, moment-resisting joints in buildings are recormended as they tend tie Structure to behave monolithically, they add to the redundancy of the systen and show better seisuic behavior. Continuity and displacenent restraints in bridges are also recommended. Redundancy and structural integrity should be the basis of the design philosophy of earthquake resistant design of precast, structures. It is necessary to develop new and improve existing connection details in order to make profabrication a structurally sound and economically viable construction nethod.A4ditional extensive research work, theoretical and experinental, and tests on different joint types under cyclic lading are necessary to determine their non-linear behavier, ductility and energy Aissipation capacity [REFERENCES Sutherland Mt.-Prostressed Concrete Barthquake Resistant structures II. Worl Conference on Earthquake Fagineering, New Zealand 1965. 2. Hawking W.M.-Analytical and Experimental studies of Prestressed and Pre- cast Concrete Blenants-Workshop Farthquake-Resistant Reint. Conc. Building Construction, Univ. California, Berkeley, July 1977. 3, Lewicki,B.6 Pauw,A.~ Joints, Precast Panel Buildings-Planning and De- Sign of Tali Buildings, Vol.tIT, ASCE-IABSE, Lehigh Univ. , August 1972. 4, Martin £.D.6 Forkosz,W.J.~Connections for Precast Prestressed Concrete Buildings, including Barthquake Resistance-P.C.I., March 1962. 5. Dowrick,D.J. et al.- Connections between Precast Prestressed Concrete Men, bers in Duildings-PzP Comission on Seismic Structures. April 1979. 6. Becker, JM. Llorente,C._ The Seismic Response of Simple Precast Con— crete Panel Walls-I2.U.S. Wat .conf.Farthquake Eng. ,Stanford Univ Aug 1973 7, Churayan,A.1.5 Djabua, Sh.-Methods of Monolithic Junctions in Earthquake Resist. Frameless Large Panel Suildings- II1-W.C.E.E New Zealand, 1965 8, Mueller,?.& Becker,J.-Seismic Behavior of Precast vialls Coupled chroush Vertical Connecticns-Viz. World Conf. Earthquake Eng. Istanbul 1980. 9. Sauter, P.-Criterios de Disefo Sisno-Resistente para Puentes (Earthquake Resistant Design Criteria for Sridges)-Seminario Ingenierfa Estructsral Escuela Ingenierfa Civil, Universidad Costa Rica, October 1981. 10 Lanigan,A.G. et al.~ Structural and tion Structural Details-Seiamic De-~ sign of Bridges-pull. New Zealand Nat .Soc.farthq.Eng., Septenber 1900. 11, Inowata,Sh. Japanese Practice in Seismic Design of Prestressed Bridges- Journal, Prestressed Concrete Institute, July/August 1972. 64Fig. 7 ~ Longitudinal Bridge Linkag a 0) Restraint ot Abutment b) Hinges Slab ot Piers Fig. 6 - Longitudinal Linkage with Hinged Stab Fig. 9 - Continuity over intermediate Support Fig. 6 - Wet Floor and Wall Pane! Jointe Fig. (0 - Transverse Bridge Restroint 636