Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
TECHNICAL PAPER
POST-TENSIONED CONCRETE WALLS FOR
SEISMIC RESISTANCE
An innovative approach to earthquake safety and concrete construction in buildings
L. PANIAN, M. STEYER AND S. TIPPING
ABSTRACT
Lateral force resisting systems utilizing ductile concrete
walls offer inherent advantages for the seismic perform-
ance of building structures, in both new construction and
in retrofit applications. By combining conventional rein-
forced concrete construction with unbonded post-tension-
ing, a novel hybrid is created that provides the opportunity
to significantly and cost-effectively improve the seismic
performance of structural wall systems beyond current
expectations.
This paper describes the conceptual background of and
provides basic guidelines for the design and construction
of hybrid post-tensioned cast-in-place (PT-CIP) concrete
walls for seismic resistance. The approach and implemen-
tation of a PT-CIP wall system is illustrated in the context
of project case studies. In particular, a recently completed
seismic retrofit of an existing six-story non-ductile con-
crete building in Berkeley, California is described to high-
light the unique characteristics of the proposed system.
KEYWORDS
wall, post-tension, prestress, seismic, earthquake, capacity
design, hybrid, ductile, rocking, self-centering
PTI Journal, V. 5, No. 1, July 2007. Received and reviewed under Institute
Journal publication policies. Copyright ©2007, Post-Tensioning Institute.
All rights reserved, including the making of copies unless permission is
obtained from the Post-Tensioning Institute. Pertinent discussion will be
published in the next issue of the PTI Journal if received within 3 months
from the publication.
10:02 AM Page 7
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The defining feature of the post-tensioned wall system is its
self-centering tendency, which can minimize or virtually
eliminate permanent deformations following a major
earthquake. The high-strength unbonded post-tensioning
tendons provide an elastic restoring force, while the mild-
steel reinforcement yields to dissipate seismic energy and
deliver a ductile and controlled response. The addition of
post-tensioning provides a significant increase in flexural
strength with reduced quantities of mild reinforcement,
which results in more compact wall dimensions and
improved constructability.
Properly proportioned, the system is expected to limit max-
imum seismic displacements to that of a reinforced concrete
system of equivalent strength. The PT-CIP technology
blends the inherent advantages of reinforced concrete wall
construction with the self-centering capability provided by
the vertical post-tensioning to provide a more effective and
efficient means of seismic resistance. This results in
enhanced seismic protection of the gravity load resisting
systems and architectural components of the building, par-
ticularly when compared to traditional, fully inelastic rein-
forced concrete walls and moment-resisting frames.
The evolution of reinforced concrete shear wall design tradi-
tionally has been marked by sporadic shifts in practice
brought about by building code revisions that attempt to mit-
igate the deficiencies exposed during major earthquakes. The
cumulative effect of this reactive process has been to effec-
tively relegate structures incorporating reinforced concrete
walls for seismic resistance to a second-tier status; largely on
the basis of the historically poor performance of these types
of structures. This is evidenced by the assignment of a lower
ductility capacity factor, R, and non-rational limitations on
building height based entirely on structure type.
An alternative approach that seeks to fully realize the
potential benefits that concrete wall construction can pro-
vide, forms the basis for the development of post-tensioned
concrete walls described herein. While such an approach
may be regarded as experimental, and admittedly departs
from the traditional code based solutions, it is based on the
careful and explicit consideration of inelastic response and
is well supported by recent research.
July 2007 | PTI JOURNAL | 7
Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
The design approach to the PT-CIP wall system has
adhered to the force-based methods outlined in the
California Building Code1. An important departure from
the code basis is made, however, regarding the proportion-
ing and detailing of the system. Capacity design principles
developed by Paulay and Priestley2 are rigorously applied to
determine the seismic demands on the structure based on
inelastic mechanisms, rather than the traditional approach
of assigning design forces on the basis of elastic analysis,
The successful integration of this novel approach into actu-
al design practice within a competitive construction envi-
ronment relies on careful consideration of not only those
aspects of design that affect seismic response and behavior,
but also those practical aspects that affect architectural
space planning, constructability, and ultimately cost. The
highlighted project demonstrates key aspects of the design
and construction of PT-CIP walls and provides a concrete
example in a seismic retrofit application.
COMPONENTS OF POST-TENSIONED WALLS
While aspects of the seismic response of a hybrid PT-CIP
wall are fundamentally different than a traditional rein-
forced concrete wall, the components of their construction
are conventional and standardized, not requiring special
manufacture. Fig. 1 describes the basic elements that form
the PT-CIP wall.
Concrete – The strength and workability of the concrete
are always factors in specifying concrete. They are especial-
ly important in PT-CIP walls for several reasons. A mix
with high long-term strength gain is essential to fully
exploit the benefits that post-tensioning provides. PT walls
Fig. 1 - Schematic PT-CIP wall elevation
8 | PTI JOURNAL | July 2007
10:02 AM Page 8
develop relatively higher compressive forces at the bound-
ary zones and rely on the shear strength of the walls to
dependably develop their flexural capacity. The design
compressive strength of the concrete is typically specified
to be 6 to 10 ksi for efficient proportioning the system. This
is more economically achieved by specifying concrete
strengths at 56 or 84 days, rather at 28 days, as is common
practice. This flexibility allows the substitution of cement
with slower reactivity admixtures such as blast furnace slag
or fly-ash, which can improve the workability and consoli-
dation properties of the mix while minimizing the cement
content.
Achieving adequate consolidation of the concrete matrix
without deleterious voids is essential to developing the
expected performance of the system. This is especially true
at critical locations such as PT anchors, boundary zones,
and large reinforcing bar terminations. These areas, where
consolidation is most important, often become congested,
increasing the potential for voids if not carefully detailed.
Post-Tensioning Tendons – Post-tensioning tendons are
bundles of individual strands sharing a common anchor-
age. The strands themselves consist of seven helically-
wound high-strength wires, conforming to ASTM A416,
with an ultimate strength of 270 ksi. To keep the tendons
isolated from the surrounding concrete, they can be indi-
vidually sheathed in plastic ducts along their length or col-
lectively grouped bare inside a common duct depending on
construction methods and sequence.
Fig. 2 depicts a typical multi-strand anchorage, which is
provided at both the fixed and stressing ends of the ten-
dons. Tendons are typically arranged such that all of the
post-tensioning forces are concentric to both horizontal
axes of the wall. In addition, it is advantageous to keep the
tendons grouped closely in the middle of the wall to mini-
mize strains resulting from large lateral drifts. Since the
tendons are unbonded, the change in stress in the tendons
can only occur by vertical deformation between anchors.
Fig. 2- Multi-strand tendon anchor
Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
This protects the tendons by distributing the extension
along the full length of the tendon, thereby minimizing the
strain on the strands.
Mild Steel Reinforcement – Mild steel reinforcement is an
essential part of a PT-CIP wall. To have greater confidence
in the range of reinforcement strength, and thereby more
accurately understand the boundaries of wall behavior,
specifying A706 reinforcement is preferable. The impera-
tive to make PT-CIP walls more compact in size will often
lead to heavily reinforced boundary zones where the rein-
forcing is essential for both tension and compression. In
addition, in order to preclude undesirable shear failure
modes through capacity design principles, heavy horizon-
tal reinforcing is to be expected, especially at the plastic
hinge region.
Confinement Reinforcement – The element that is
responsible for literally holding the whole wall together, and
ensuring a ductile flexural response, is the confining rein-
forcement. Confinement at the boundary zones prevents
premature crushing of the concrete and buckling of the lon-
gitudinal bars. Confinement between boundaries, in the
body of the wall, helps to stabilize the diagonal compression
struts that form the shear mechanism. Finally, local con-
finement at the tendon anchors is necessary to contain the
splitting forces generated in the anchorage zone. Headed
reinforcement (www.hrc-usa.com) is typically used at criti-
cal locations to provide superior confinement and facilitate
constructability by minimizing congestion typically associ-
ated with overlapping layers of bent stirrups
Fig. 3 - Force-deformation response
10:03 AM Page 9
Fig. 4 - Response of hybrid PT-CIP wall
BEHAVIOR OF PT-CIP WALLS
The behavior of hybrid post-tensioned walls can be con-
ceptualized by considering the simplified model shown in
Fig. 3. The wall is idealized as a rigid cantilever supported
by a rotational spring and damper assembly, exhibiting the
cyclic lateral force-deformation response described by Fig.
4. Both the PT tendons and mild steel reinforcing provide
flexural strength to PT-CIP walls. As the wall deforms
inelastically, the mild steel provides energy dissipation and
the tendons generate restoring forces and self-centering
capacity.
The response of a cantilevered PT-CIP wall can be repre-
sented by the superposition of two components of its
behavior as indicated in Fig. 5:
1. A non-linear elastic component representing the
contribution of the axial load largely provided by the
PT tendons (In general, though particularly in seis-
mic retrofit applications for buildings of moderate
height, the axial forces supported by structural walls
resulting from the combined weight of slabs and
walls themselves are small. As such, their contribu-
tion to the flexural strength of the wall is minimal
(typically less than 5%) in comparison with the two
main components listed.); and
2. An inelastic yielding component representing the
contribution of the mild steel reinforcing.
There is a wide and growing body of academic research
that has been conducted into the behavior of pre-cast
unbonded post-tensioned concrete walls. The majority of
this research was initiated by the Precast Seismic
Structural Systems (PRESSS)3 research program, which
spurred a great deal of subsequent interest and study.
While there are important detailing aspects that separate
pre-cast and cast-in-place construction, the behavior of
the two systems is analogous. This body of research pro-
vides substantial insight into the expected performance of
hybrid PT-CIP walls.
July 2007 | PTI JOURNAL | 9
Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
Fig. 5 - Mechanism study
PT-Component: Rocking and Self-Centering –
Unbonded post-tensioned precast concrete (PT) walls
without any mild steel reinforcing have been shown to
undergo large nonlinear displacements with little damage
(Kurama et al.4). It has also been shown that even at the
limit where the tendons begin to yield, “a properly
designed PT precast system is able to develop very large lat-
eral drifts [up to 6%] without loss of strength or SC [self-
centering] capacity” (Seo and Sause5). However, it has been
observed and is generally accepted that walls incorporating
only post-tensioning tendons to provided lateral resistance
do not provide a sufficient amount of energy dissipation to
adequately limit seismic displacements (Seo and Sause5).
Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that PT walls
incorporating only post-tensioning tendons experience
larger deformations than reinforced concrete walls of
equivalent resistance subjected to the same loading
(Kurama et. al4, Kurama6).
While the use of friction and viscous damping devices can
provide the necessary energy dissipation to improve the
performance of PT systems in general, from a practical
standpoint, these systems represent a specialized, relatively
unfamiliar, and potentially costly technology that create
additional barriers to the adoption of post-tensioned wall
systems in practice. Using conventional yielding reinforce-
ment as means of providing adequate energy dissipation
remains the most practical approach to creating an effec-
tive hybrid.
The parameter βm, suggested by Kurama7 and adopted
here, describes the ratio between the flexural resistance
provided by the mild steel reinforcement and that provid-
ed by the post-tensioning tendons:
M ws
βm =
(M wp + M wn )
10 | PTI JOURNAL | July 2007
10:03 AM Page 10
where,
Mws = contribution of mild steel to wall flexural strength
Mwp = contribution of PT tendons to wall flexural strength
Mwn = contribution of applied axial loads to wall flexural
strength
It is suggested that values of βm between 0.75 and 1.0 result
in an efficient and effective use of the various components.
At lower values, the wall may not provide adequate energy
dissipation. At higher values, the PT tendon contribution
may be inadequate to fully self-center after a large earth-
quake, resulting in increased permanent deformations – in
effect, reverting to the response of a conventional rein-
forced concrete wall.
As seen in Fig. 5c, the hysteresis loop of a PT-CIP wall
exhibits a flagpole shape resulting from the superposition
of two component curves.
Mode Shaping – A mode shaping element is a spine with
sufficient strength and stiffness to uniformly distribute
inter-story deformations and prevent story mechanisms
from forming. Fig. 6 depicts the basic action of such a spine.
It is worthwhile noting that the spine itself need not neces-
sarily provide additional lateral resistance to be effective.
Using capacity design methods to proportion PT CIP walls
can ensure this mode shaping behavior, providing an effec-
tive means of better protecting architectural components
and the gravity system from concentrated inter-story
deformations.
Lateral Strength and Ductility Demand – The elastic spec-
trum strength reduction factor, R in general correlates the
strength of the system with the expected ductility demand.
For systems with low relative strength, designed for higher
R values, larger deformations are expected. Hence, assuring
adequate ductility capacity is more essential.
Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007 10:03 AM Page 11

Fig. 6 - Mode shaping effect

Research indicates that a properly designed PT-CIP wall mined to provide an acceptable value of βm. The walls
will have comparable ductility demands to that of a con- should be reasonably sized so that compressive stress in the
ventional reinforced concrete system, with higher ductility concrete is in the range of 0.1 to 0.25 f ’c. Detailed moment
capacities and the added benefit of self-centering capabili- curvature analysis is used to estimate the response of the
ty (Seo and Sause5). This suggests that an R value of 4.5 or wall for nominal loading and to explicitly evaluate the
5.5 (based on CBC1 and depending on building type) is probable over-strength using realistic material properties.
reasonable and perhaps conservative for design. Due to the larger axial forces at the boundaries, localized
reinforcement may be needed to create an efficient com-
Probable Over-strength, Ω – The over-strength factor
pression block.
represents the ratio of the expected maximum capacity of a
system or component to its nominal capacity. This factor
varies from system to system and component to compo-
nent, and can usually be reliably calculated. Accurate esti-
mation of these factors forms the basis for capacity design.
The building code (CBC1) typically prescribes a single
value for Ω for a given structural system. For structural
walls this value is 2.8. To carry out a capacity based design,
using this value without further consideration can be
appropriate and maybe somewhat conservative. However, a
detailed evaluation will show that a PT-CIP wall system
inherently has a reduced (by roughly 1⁄3) associated over-
strength. This recognition creates a meaningful incentive
that makes capacity based design, and, consequently,
improved seismic performance, economically advanta-
geous in the design of PT-CIP walls.

DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR HYBRID PT-CIP WALLS

The basic parameters that affect the proportioning and
detailing of various components can be simplified to make
preliminary estimates for design. The following general
approach describes the basic considerations that affect the
design.
Once the strength demands are determined, the walls are
preliminarily sized to resist the over-strength shear
demands as discussed above. Once the overall layout and
basic footprint of the walls is determined, the proportions Fig. 7 - Superposition of rocking and elasto-plastic
of pre-stressing and mild steel reinforcement is then deter- components hybrid PT-CIP wall behavior

July 2007 | PTI JOURNAL | 11

Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
To provide reserve strength in the tendons themselves, the
jacking forces can be somewhat lower than typical post-
tensioning applications. Jacking stresses around 0.6 fpu
may be more appropriate to minimize the risk of over-
stressing the tendons under larger than expected displace-
ments. As a minimum, it is recommended that the tendons
be designed to remain elastic for plastic hinge rotations of
up to 2.5%. Achieving this is largely a function of tendon
lengths and arrangements in the walls.
As a reference to highlight the effectiveness of the post-ten-
sioning in providing flexural resistance consider the fol-
lowing. In a typical application, assuming a wall 2 ft-0 in.
thick, moderately sized tendons consisting of 20-0.5 in.
diameter strands arranged in a single row at 20 in. o.c.,
resulting in roughly 1000 psi of uniform compression
(P/A), effectively provide the strength equivalent of using
#14 bars at 10 in. o.c. on each face.
Fig. 7 shows a diagrammatic study of the intended flexural
mechanism for a PT-CIP wall.
CASE STUDY – SEISMIC RETROFIT
A recent voluntary seismic retrofit in Berkeley, California
provided an opportunity for the use of PT-CIP walls to
enhance the safety of a six-story medical office building.
The building at 2850 Telegraph Avenue was originally
constructed around 1970 as a non-ductile concrete
moment frame structure with reinforced masonry infill
exterior walls.
The seismic deficiencies that were identified as critical life-
safety risks related to the overall lack of ductile detailing,
irregularities in load path, and a potential weak/soft story.
Damage to this structure, located only 1 km from the
Fig. 8 - Floor plan of retrofitted structure
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10:03 AM Page 12
Hayward fault, posed a significant financial risk to the
owner in the event of even a moderate earthquake, as well
as a life-safety risk to the building’s occupants in the event
of a major earthquake. The unusually massive structure,
subject to strong near-fault ground shaking, would require
significant strengthening to satisfy the needs of the seismic
safety project.
The building owners outlined a key set of considerations to
be integrated into the project:
• Its proximity to the University of California, regard-
ed as a likely tenant for the building, meant that the
design needed to comply with the University’s strin-
gent seismic safety criteria. An independent peer-
review was conducted.
• Since the seismic improvements were voluntary, the
project had a fixed construction budget based on the
economics of the office real-estate market.
• Any scheme that would result in exterior modifica-
tions was considered unviable, due to the time
required to undergo design review and obtain a plan-
ning permit from the city.
• The retrofit needed to accommodate all existing
mechanical systems while minimizing intrusion into
the floor area, in order to preserve the flexibility and
value of the space.
The PT-CIP system provided a retrofit solution well-suited
to address these criteria. The typical floor plan at 2850
Telegraph, shown in Fig. 8, measures roughly 120 ft by
80 ft.
Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
Fig. 9 - Exploded view showing wall arrangement
Four new PT-CIP concrete walls, each 2 ft-6 in. in thick-
ness and 20 ft in length, were integrated into the floor plan
to stabilize the structure as shown in Fig. 9.
These walls were located close enough to the building exte-
rior to form a stable, broad-based four-sided system, yet far
enough away to ensure that the new offices will retain their
views of the nearby hills and the bay.
The walls were able to satisfy the force-based strength
demands prescribed in the building code with a compact
footprint and a significant reduction in mild steel rein-
forcement. More importantly, the post-tensioned walls,
through their mode shaping and self-centering capability
add value to the project by providing an extra measure of
protection that minimizes economic loss as a result of
damage to the building during an earthquake.
Fig. 10 - Detail of reinforcement at plastic hinge
10:03 AM Page 13
Plastic Hinge Zone - To ensure a flexural mechanism at
the plastic hinge zone without premature strength degra-
dation, the design achieves ductile yielding of the walls’
vertical reinforcement through the use of several important
detailing considerations:
Mechanical couplers were used to splice vertical reinforce-
ment, ensuring full strength development of the bars and
eliminating the possibility of cyclic lap splice failure, while
reducing congestion to facilitate constructability.
Headed cross ties are used at the boundary zones to pro-
vide the confinement necessary to maximize concrete
compressive strength and prevent buckling of heavy verti-
cal boundary bars. See Fig. 10. Outside the boundary zone,
headed cross-ties were used at a regular spacing to
enhance the concrete compressive strength through con-
finement of the “web” of the wall to minimize the likeli-
hood of diagonal compression failure.
Shear reinforcement was capacity designed considering
higher mode effects as well as probable flexural over-
strength to preclude diagonal tension failure. This demand
was met following the design equations for shear capacity
described in FEMA 306 (FEMA8). Headed bars are used to
ensure adequate anchorage of the heavy horizontal shear
reinforcing, and to reduce congestion. See Fig. 11.
High Performance Shotcrete - A key feature of the design
was a specialized concrete mix that was developed to:
• Satisfy the high compressive strength requirement of
8,000 psi;
• Provide enough early strength gain to permit timely
stressing of the tendons; and
• Allow the concrete to be “shot”, or pneumatically
applied.
The resulting mix incorporated a roughly 50% replacement
of the cement with blast furnace slag. In addition to the
expected strength gain, the inclusion of slag resulted in
July 2007 | PTI JOURNAL | 13
Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
good workability and self-consolidating behavior that
made it suitable for shotcrete placement.
With this innovative mix design, a high performance con-
crete was achieved that resulted in significant cost savings
through the elimination of formwork.
Reinforcement Proportions - The typical reinforcement
specified can be seen in Figs. 10 and 11. The post-tension-
ing force is provided by 8 tendons, each consisting of 27-
0.6 in. diameter strands and stressed to about 900 kips.
This provides a uniform axial stress on the cross-section
equivalent to about 1000 psi or 0.125 f ’c which corresponds
to a mild-steel reinforcing ratio of βm ≈ 0.85 as described
above. This proportion ensured enough energy dissipation
while maintaining a high degree of self-centering capacity.
Fig. 11 - Detail of reinforcement at foundation wall
14 | PTI JOURNAL | July 2007
10:03 AM Page 14
Fig. 12 - Wall construction showing tendon anchors
Construction Considerations - Although the majority of
work in proportioning the PT-CIP wall was the result of
structural analysis and careful seismic detailing, practi-
cal considerations such as constructability played a sig-
nificant role in determining the final layout of the wall
components.
Shotcrete PT-CIP walls benefit from a rationally arranged,
repetitive reinforcement cage that is not overly congested.
This is necessary to minimize concrete voids, and to permit
enough working space within the mild steel for the stress-
ing operation.
Precise two- and three-dimensional models and drawings
of all wall plans and sections were developed to ensure cor-
rect layout and minimize unintended interferences. These
were complete with all of the components anticipated dur-
ing construction, including true bar diameters for all major
and minor reinforcement, termination plates, T-heads, PT
anchorages, epoxy dowels, existing elements, and clear-
ances. These models were used to detect conflicts and
assess trial layouts iteratively until optimized sizes were
obtained.
Optimal layout of the PT tendons shown in Fig. 12 requires
a balancing act to satisfy the different performance
requirements. On the one hand, locating them far from the
center of the wall increases moment strength under small
Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
to moderate drifts, due to the increased moment arm of the
internal tension-compression couple. However, under large
lateral drifts, if the tendons are placed too close to the ends
of the wall, those near the compression block will be
underutilized, while those near the tension boundary zone
will undergo excessive strains and may yield. Another fac-
tor to consider is the size of the anchors places practical
limits on how close together the different tendons can be.
The details of the boundary zone reinforcement at the plas-
tic hinge are designed to enhance both performance and
constructability. Fig. 13 shows the construction of the wall.
Note the bundled strands, mechanically coupled #18 verti-
cal bars, and headed reinforcement.
Due to tight site constraints, no cranes were used on the
project. This meant that the PT tendons were assembled
strand by strand at the top anchorage and lowered into
place at the foundation level through penetrations in the
floors as shown in Figs. 12 and 14.
Site constraints led the contractor to conclude that the
most efficient way to tension the PT strands would be to
individually tension each strand using hand-held jacks.
Even so, what would seem like a tedious procedure was one
that moved rapidly. A two person crew was able to tension
all four walls in less than a week. In fact, all of the 864
strands in the walls were satisfactorily stressed to the
design load.
Fig. 13 - Wall construction showing boundary zone
10:04 AM Page 15
Fig. 14 - Wall construction showing PT installation
CONCLUSIONS
Presented above is a discussion of the behavior of post-ten-
sioned cast-in-place concrete walls, and the design consid-
erations necessary for their implementation. This discus-
sion provides the basis for the development of a novel and
promising lateral force resisting system, with these notable
characteristics:
• Self centering capacity that minimizes or eliminates
post earthquake deformations: PT CIP walls have the
potential to sustain no permanent structural damage
in moderate earthquakes and significantly reduce
post occupancy structural repair costs after major
earthquakes.
• Mode shaping capacity that eliminates large soft
story drifts: PT-CIP walls can offer increased protec-
tion of gravity and architectural systems that will
serve to reduce economic losses during a seismic
event.
• Economically feasible construction: PT walls com-
bine two established means of concrete construction
technology into a single technology well suited for
seismic applications. This combination results in
greatly reduced barriers to adoption of the technolo-
gy by engineers, owners, contractors and building
officials. This is evident in the case study above
which describes a voluntary seismic upgrade with a
limited budget that was completed on schedule with
minimal field change orders.
The design approach to PT-CIP walls builds upon and inte-
grates several bodies of knowledge, including:
• Analytical and experiment research on the behavior
of analogous precast wall systems;
• An adherence to capacity design principles;
July 2007 | PTI JOURNAL | 15
Journal July 07 Technical Paper 1 080207:Layout 1 8/17/2007
• Code mandated force based design; and
• Means and methods of construction and their
impact on cost.
A possible improvement to the design approach taken for
PT-CIP walls would be to use a displacement design
method such as developed by Priestley and Kowalski9 to
determine strength parameters. Because the failure mecha-
nisms can be explicitly and reliably defined, and those limit
states can be directly related to the details of construction,
the PT-CIP system easily lends itself to this rational
method.
To fully understand the potential of the PT-CIP system,
additional research is required to better quantify the sys-
tem’s ductility demand vis-à-vis the chosen lateral strength
factor (R), and selected proportions of mild steel and pre-
stressing. Though many analytical studies establish such
relationships for hysteretic systems and support the con-
cept of self-centering systems in general, physical testing
based on the viable design concepts presented herein
would go a long way in establishing a firm basis for larger
scale adoption.
As to the relationship between research and practice, it is
worthwhile to quote Paulay: “It may sound obvious, but
improvements in seismic performance of engineering
structures are achieved only after structures are construct-
ed that embody improved seismic design knowledge.”(Park
and Paulay10)
REFERENCES
1. CBC, International Conference of Building
Officials/California Building Standards Commission,
2001 California Building Code – California Code of
Regulations, Title 24, Part 2, Volume 2, Chapter 16
2. Paulay, T. and Priestley, M.J.N., 1992, Seismic Design of
Reinforced Concrete and Masonry Buildings, pp. 420-440
3. Priestley, M., Sritharan, S., Conley, J, and Pampanin, S.,
1999, “Preliminary Results and Conclusions From the
PRESS Five-Story Precast Concrete Test Building,” PCI
Journal, Vol. 44, No. 6, pp. 42-67
4. Kurama, Y., Pessiki, S., Sause, R., and Lu, L.W., 1999,
“Seismic Behavior and Design of Unbonded Post-
Tensioned Precast Concrete Walls,” PCI Journal, Vol. 44,
No.3, pp. 72-89
5. Seo, C.Y., and Sause, R., 2005, “Ductility Demands on Self-
Centering Systems under Earthquake Loading”, ACI
Structural Journal, Vol. 102, No. 2, pp. 275-285
16 | PTI JOURNAL | July 2007
10:04 AM Page 16
6. Kurama, Y., 2002, “Hybrid Post-Tensioned Precast
Concrete Walls for Use in Seismic Regions,” PCI Journal,
Vol. 47, pp. 36-59
7. Kurama, Y., 2005, “Seismic Design of Partially Post-
Tensioned Precast Concrete Walls,” PCI Journal, pp. 100-
125
8. FEMA, 1999, FEMA 306: Evaluation of Earthquake
Damaged Concrete and Masonry Wall Buildings, May
1999, pp.77-94, Federal Emergency Management
Agency, Washington D.C.
9. Priestley, M.J.N., Kowalsky, M.J. 2000, “Direct
Displacement-based Design of Concrete Buildings,”
Bulletin NZS National Society for Earthquake Engineering,
Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 421-444
10. Park, R. and Paulay, T., 2006, Connections. The EERI Oral
History Series, Earthquake Engineering Research
Institute, Oakland CA, 2006
Leo Panian is an associate of Tipping Mar +associates,
Structural Engineers, in Berkeley, CA. He is a registered
structural and civil engineer with over thirteen years of
experience, specializing in the design of steel and concrete
structures with particular expertise in seismic engineering.
He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC San Diego with
a Master’s Degree in Structural Engineering.
Marc Steyer is a project enginer at Tipping Mar +associ-
ates. He is a registered civil engineer with over 5 years of
experience. He is a graduate of Princeton University and
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Master’s
Degree in Structural Engineering.
Steven Tipping is the president of Tipping Mar +associ-
ates. He is a registered structural and civil engineer with
over thirty-five years of experience in a wide range of
building projects. Under his leadership, the firm has estab-
lished a reputation of creativity and excellence for which it
has been repeatedly recognized by peers and industry
groups at state and national levels. Mr. Tipping served as
the President of the Structural Engineers Association of
Northern California and was a member of the Structural
Engineers of California Board of Directors.