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2211-3819 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Organising Committee of The International
Conference of Risk and Engineering Management.
doi:10.1016/j.sepro.2011.08.023
Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 137141
2011 International Conference on Risk and Engineering Management (REM)
Experimental Research on Seismic Behavior of Unbonded Precast
Reinforced Concrete Frame
Jianqiang Han
a,b,
*, Yulong Cai
c
, Changyan Lin
a
, Guanyu Gao
a
, Fei Wang
a
a
College of Civil And Architectural Engineering, Hebei United University, Tangshan 063009, China
b
Earthquake Engineering Rresearch Center of Hebei Province, Tangshan 063009, China
c
China Architecture Design & Research Group, Beijing, 100044, China
Abstract
Unbonded precast reinforced concrete frame is a new assembly architecture structure. This thesis studies deeply the crack
development characteristics, failure pattern, hysteresis curve and the displacement ductility of unbonded precast reinforced
concrete frame, by analyzing one unbonded precast reinforced concrete frame under low reversed cyclic load test. We build a
model using finite element analysis software to the test piece model analysis, the analysis result consistent with the experimental
results. Experimental studies indicate that assembly of prestressed reinforced concrete frame structure has a good seismic
performance. This unbonded precast reinforced concrete frame is a new kind of structural system complying with the
development of architectural engineering, which is useful in application in the earthquake area.
2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: unbonded, precast, reinforced concrete, frame, structure engineering.
1. Introduction
The unbonded precast reinforced concrete frame is a new kind of structural system assembly, complying with the
development of architectural industrialization. This structural system is of various advantages---- less steel
consuming, lower self-weight, higher construction efficiency, better quality, lower labor consuming, energy saving,
more environment friendly and higher social and economic benefits, which are in favor of sustainable social
development. At present, this structure has been applied in various building constructions in Japan and the United
States[1-2], having shown its unique advantages. The researches in this area in China are mainly conducted in the
node specimen test[3-4], however, the overall framework of the prestressing force pilot studies are relatively rare.
Our project group fabricated frame of this new node specimens and has systematically studied it[5-7], obtaining the
seismic performance of this new structural system. This paper is based on the test of the overall effect of the cyclic
loading on a two floors of a two-span prestressed frames fabricated with reinforced concrete frame, researching its
overall structure seismic performances---- the prefabricated crack case, failure mode, ductility, energy dissipation,
* Jianqiang Han. Tel.: 15032587758; fax: 0315-2592180.
E-mail address: tshjq@139.com.
2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Organising Committee of The International Conference
of Risk and Engineering Management.
138 Jianqiang Han et al. / Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 137141
and stiffness degradation of the new system.
2. Experimental Design
2.1. Specimen design and loading device
Test specimen is fabricated with two floors and two spans of prestressed reinforced concrete frame structure. The
concrete grade of frame basis is C30. The concrete grade of columns and beams is C50. The channels for Strand
were reserved in the framework of prefabricated columns and beams. When the prefabricated components meet the
required strength, we fabricate the frame with three steps. The first step is hoisting the prefabricated components.
The second step is perfusing the beam end node joints with high strength mortar. And the final step is tensioning
strand. To ensure that the concrete beam end assembly-node bound has better strength in fabricated frame beam
ends, we paste two layers CFRP over the range of the beam ends. Precast concrete specimen reinforced concrete
frame design dimensions, reinforcement and the loading device are shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Specimen dimensions
Framework model of the reinforcement ratio of ordinary steel, hoop, the volume of hoop and stirrup values are
shown in table 1.
Table 1. Component reinforcement characteristic values
Sample site Size Reinforcement ratio Hoop Volume of hoop Stirrup value
Column 200`200 2.83% - 1.4% 0.08
beam 100`200 1.54% 1.13% - -
2.2. Loading program
Unbonded precast reinforced concrete frame specimen was loaded by load-displacement hybrid control
method[8]. When the final bearing capacity of the specimen decreases to about 85% of the ultimate load , the
specimen is regarded as damaged and the teat terminates. Test measurements included the control section main bar
strain, crack and corner nodes, and the overall displacement of the framework. Loading program is shown in Fig. 2.
Jianqiang Han et al. / Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 137141 139
l k\ ymm
y
?y
1y
by
8y
mm
Fig. 2. Specimen dimensions
3. Test results and analysis
3.1. Failure mechanism
From the characteristics of the destruction of the unbonded precast reinforced concrete overall framework , at the
beginning period of loading, there is no significant changes in the framework of beams; cracks appears later; the
structure distorts little; hysteresis curve shows elasticity rule; the residual deformation of the specimen is small.
With the load and horizontal displacement cycles increasing, the end of the beams appears cracks, and becomes the
plastic hinges. The tangent slope of the hysteresis curve decreases obviously. When the horizontal load adds up to
the limit load, the bearing capacity decreased slightly with the increase of the horizontal displacement. The structure
shows good ductility. The destruction of the unbonded precast reinforced concrete of the overall framework is
characterized by the appearance of a wide crack at the end of the beam , as shown in Fig. 3. At the same time, a
number of micro-column cracks appear at the root. At the later period of loading, the column root bears vertical
force, and the bar yields and shows plastic hinges. Failure mechanism of this structure consistents with the
principles of strong column and weak beam.
Fig. 3. Node beam damage characteristics
3.2. Hysteresis curves and skeleton curves.
Through data processing, the P- hysteretic curve of the specimens is obtained, as shown in Fig. 4(a); the
140 Jianqiang Han et al. / Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 137141
specimen skeleton curve shown in Fig. 4(b), where P is the level force applied on the top of the framework, and is
the framework top horizontal displacement.
-100
-50
0
50
100
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
mm
P
/
k
N
(a) (b)
Fig. 4. (a) P-A curves oI specimen; (b) The skeleton curve of the sample frame
3.3. Eigenvalues measured displacement
The eigenvalues messured value of the displacement characteristics of the pre fabricated frame specimen, shown
in Table 2.
Table 2. Eigenvalues measured displacement between floors
Measurements YZKJ
1st floor 2nd floor
Forward Reverse Forward Reverse
Cracking story displacementucr/mm
Yield story driftuy/mm
Layer displacement ultimate loadumax/mm
Final layer displacementuu/mm
ucr/h
uy/h
umax/h
uu/h
1.01
4.82
46.2
63.0
1/1089
1/228
1/24
1/17
1.63
7.30
35.2
64.1
1/675
1/151
1/31
1/17
0.95
4.32
38.4
55.3
1/947
1/208
1/23
1/16
1.47
6.56
29.2
54.8
1/612
1/137
1/31
1/16
3.4. Finite element analysis
In this paper, we use SAP2000 finite element software to make the pushover analysis about the unbonded precast
frame structure model. The analysis results are shown in Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 5(b). We can see from the graph that the
ultimate bearing capacity of the nappe well agrees with the experimental value. Moreover, the SAP2000 nappe
plastic hinge sequence and location (outside the values in parentheses) and the testing process the order and location
of plastic hinges (values in brackets) are basically consistent.
Jianqiang Han et al. / Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 137141 141

(a) (b)
Fig. 5. (a) Base shear force and displacement curve; (b) Plastic hinge occurrence
Conclusions
Unbonded precast reinforced concrete frame structure has a better seismic performance for the earthquake zone
in the popularization and application of a consistent development of new industrial building structure system. By
assembling prestressed reinforced concrete frame structure test and finite element analysis, the following results can
be concluded for structural enginering design:
(1) Unbonded precast reinforced concrete frame structure after the first beam column hinge hinge failure
mechanism;
(2) The hysteresis loop of the overall framework of prestressing force shows that the structure has a good energy
dissipation capacity;
(3) The pre-fabricated steel wire compression enables to effectively improve the overall performance of the
framework and significantly improve the cracking load of the structure ;
(4) hysteresis curves showed obvious mold rope phenomenon, and has good resilience;
(5) through the unbonded precast reinforced concrete frame structure finite element analysis, the experimental
results agree well with the theoretical results.
Acknowledgement
This research is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The authors also acknowledge the College of
Civil And Architectural Engineering, Hebei United University and the Earthquake Engineering Rresearch Center of
Hebei Province. The findings and conclusions expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the organizations, companies, and individuals acknowledged above.
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