Table of Contents

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Diaphragm response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Shear Wall response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Frame response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Foundation response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Seismic force resisting systems in the Precast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Shear Wall to Foundation and Floor to floor connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Shear Wall to Foundation Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Floor to Floor Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Wall to Wall connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Ductile Connectors for Precast Moment Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Buckling-restrained braces in Precast concrete Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Beam to Column connections in precast concrete moment resisting frames . . . . . . . 15

More Steel Framing Connections used with Precast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

 Executive Summary

Precast or reinforcing concrete with steel improves strength and durability. Rebar is the

most common form of concrete reinforcement. It is typically made from steel, manufactured with

ribbing to bond with concrete as it cures. There are different yield strength rebar. Most common

rebar is ASTM 615 fy=60ksi. Concrete has no ductile/tension capacity and is brittle in nature

whereas rebar have a well-defined yield point before they fracture. In order to make the fracture

mechanism ductile in nature, we use rebar in the concrete. During seismic loading we have

horizontal motion in the building. This motion creates forces in the floor diaphragm that is

resisted by floor to floor connection. These floor to floor connections take these forces to the

seismic resisting elements where they take the forces to the foundation. For high seismic areas,

designs are based on heavy reinforcement. Reason for heavy reinforcement is so they can resist

seismic forces. Instead of structure failing instantly, we have considerable amount of time and

deflection so that people can evacuate at the time of seismic event. We have precast frames and

moment resisting frames that are reinforced in a special way prescribed in the building code to

resist these seismic forces. In this report, different types of seismic resisting system and their

connection are discussed.

Precast concrete with its amazing compressive strength has shaped the structures in the

new direction. The use of steel rods in precast or concrete is the oldest technology of mankind.

Embedding steel bars into concrete increases the materials tensile strength, allowing concrete to

cure to be used in the applications like precast frames or beams. This works well because of the

steel inherent tensile strength. For effective steel reinforcement in any application, the size or

area, strength and precise placement of bars must all be carefully considered. Fortunately, this is

a well-studied area, and precast manufacturers have access to comprehensive specifications

and well-developed codes and tools when designing new elements.