Experimental Investigation of the Seismic Performance of a Novel Bolt-Assembled Precast Panel Building Structure

Abstract

In this study, the authors investigated the behavior of the proposed bolt-assembled precast panel building (BPPB) system under the simulated seismic loading through a large experimental campaign. A pseudo-static test was carried out on a two-story half-scale building specimen constructed by many individual precast components which were properly joined together with bolted connections. The results show that the building specimen had the good seismic performance with high bearing capacity, comparable energy dissipation capacity and perfect structural integrity. The crack pattern and failure mode of the building specimen are different from those of traditional cast-in-situ concrete structures and equivalent cast-in-situ precast concrete structures. The final damage was concentrated in the bolted joint zones, a shear failure occurred in the edge of concrete panel near the bolt holes. It results in that the traditional design approaches of concrete shear wall cannot be applied to this new system. Therefore, the design philosophy and design formulas were proposed for the bolt-connected precast concrete panels to ensure the ductility of the panels and further improving the seismic performance of the BPPB system. The design theory of the bolt-connected precast concrete panels was validated by the successful prediction of the building specimen’s flexural capacity.