Pre-cast concrete buildings

The objective   the seismic assessment of precast concrete structures. This method considers the seismic performance of the buildings as the principal parameter for the assessment procedure, particularly it is based on the structural displacements evaluation.
The study is focused on how to correctly account for typical structural details of Italian precast concrete structures, like column to foundation and column to beam connections. The evaluation of the connection’s behaviour strongly influences the response of precast structures subjected to seismic events: the stiffness, the load distribution and the displacement profile vary depending on the properties of the connections between the structural elements. The assessment of precast buildings cannot be separated from the evaluation of the combined behaviour of the elements and their links.
A procedure for DBA is developed for one-story and multi-story structures, taking into account the influence of the connections between the elements in the global response of the buildings. Particolar importance is given to beam-column connections, as they are considered of particular interest for the reliability of the assessment procedure. In this work the panel-structure interaction is not considered.
The procedure is applied to two case studies, to verify the applicability and the effectiveness of the method. Two configurations of a three multi-story structure with dowel beam-column connections are selected. DBA procedure is compared with others common assessment methods and the differences are highlighted.
A set of non-linear incremental time history analyses of the case studies considered herein are carried out with finite elements software to validate the results obtained with the application of the DBA procedure.