Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering

Postgraduate Program in Earthquake Engineering 2014

Displacement Based Design of Low-Damage

Reinforced Concrete Buildings
Professor Stefano Pampanin

Unbonded
post-tensioned
tendons
Energy
Dissipation
Devices

Self-centering

Hybrid system

Energy dissipation
F

Unbonded Post-Tensioned
(PT) tendons

Mild Steel or
Energy Dissipation Devices

ENEQ640 Displacement Based Design of Low-Damage Concrete Buildings (v. 06/08/2014)

Professor Stefano Pampanin

Background and Motivation

Earthquake Engineering is facing an extraordinary challenging era, the ultimate target being set at
increasingly higher levels by the demanding expectation of our modern society: to provide lowcost, more widely affordable, still architecturally appealing, high-seismic-performance structures
capable of sustaining a design level earthquake with limited or negligible damage, minimum
disruption of business (downtime) or, in more general terms, controllable socio-economical
losses.
These compelling requirements of cost-effectiveness and high-performance are leading to a major
effort towards the development of damage-control design approaches and technologies.
The 22nd Feb 2011 Christchurch earthquake have further highlighted the mismatch between the
expectations of building occupants and owners over the reality of engineered buildings seismic
performance. Ductile plastic hinges, designed to concentrate the damage in discrete location and
thus prevent the collapse of a buildings, have proven to lead, under a severe seismic event, to a
severe level of damage, often resulting into several months of downtime and loss of occupancy of
the building if not to the need for demolition.

Scope
In this course, building on and closely referring to the very recent lessons learnt from the
Canterbury Earthquake Sequence 2010-2011 and the needs and opportunity for the Christchurch
Rebuild, an overview of recent developments on innovative damage-resisting (or low-damage)
solutions for precast concrete buildings based on dry jointed ductile connections, typically
referred to as PRESSS-Technology (PREcast Seismic Structural Systems) will be given.
The combination of unbonded post-tensioning techniques and of additional sources of internal or
external dissipaters leads to self-centering and dissipative systems, capable of undergoing major
earthquake with minor damage when compared with traditional solutions.
Main aspects related to the conceptual behaviour and design criteria will be discussed based on
extensive experimental testing and numerical analysis. Examples of the several on siteapplications in New Zealand and overseas will be given, as a confirmation of the rapid and
increasingly wide acceptance of such construction technique within different construction
markets and realities.
At the end of the course, the students are expected to gain familiarity with the conceptual
behaviour, the design criteria and step-by-step procedure as well as modeling aspects of these
systems. Updates on current trends in major international seismic code provisions will be
provided along with real examples of on site applications as a further confirmation of the
advantages associated to the easy constructability and speed of erection.

ENEQ640 Displacement Based Design of Low-Damage Concrete Buildings (v. 06/08/2014)

Professor Stefano Pampanin

Delivery mode and timetable

The course will be delivered in two block modes lasting two consecutive days each to facilitate
the attendance of practicing engineers and/or out-of-town students.
Block 1: Monday-Tuesday 8th-9th September, 9:30am-5:30pm (Kirkwood, KD03)
Block 2: Monday-Tuesday 6th-7th October, 9:30am-5:30pm
(Kirkwood, KG06)

Lectures
Topics covered:
- Overview of the Canterbury earthquakes sequence: lessons learnt, impact on
performance-based design philosophy and opportunity for a wide implementation of the
next generation of damage-resisting structures.
- Alternative design philosophies and solutions for the seismic design of precast concrete
structures. Emulation of cast-in situ concrete. Introduction to jointed ductile connections,
PRESSS-Technology and the hybrid system concept. Research & Development of these
systems.
- Introduction to Displacement Based Design. Review of limitation of current Force-Based
(FBD) approaches. Closed-Form solution for non-iterative FBD. Role of residual
deformations as additional performance-based damage indicator. Enhanced performance
of self-centering systems.
- Example of DBD for SDOF and MDOF frame and wall systems.
- Analysis and design criteria for post-tensioned rocking/dissipative frames and single or
coupled walls.
- Simplified analytical/numerical modeling techniques using lumped plasticity approach.
From section and connection moment-rotation to overall structural system modeling.
- Connection between floors and lateral resisting systems. Displacement incompatibility
issues and suggested design solutions. Non-Tearing floor solutions.
- Examples of on-site applications worldwide of PRESSS-technology in low-, medium- or
high-seismic areas.

Design Project/Assignments:
As part of the assignment/project requirements, students will be assigned the task to design
and analyze the seismic response of a multi-storey PRESSS building consisting of posttensioned & dissipative frames in one direction and single or coupled post-tensioned shear
walls in the other direction.
The design will follow either a Force-Based Design (FBD) (traditional and/or closed-form
retrofitted solution) and a Displacement Based Design.
A lumped plasticity model will be created using commercial software as Ruaumoko,
SAP2000, ETABS, OpenSees at discretion of the students.
Pushover and time-history analyses will be required to be carried out using a suite of far field
and near field events, including few recently recorded ground motions in the Christchurch
CBD during the 2010-2011 events. The numerical analyses will be used to confirm the design
assumptions and compare the performance of these solutions with more traditional
counterparts options.

ENEQ640 Displacement Based Design of Low-Damage Concrete Buildings (v. 06/08/2014)

Professor Stefano Pampanin

Assessment/Evaluation
The main findings of the project will be presented in the form of a written report (worth 60%).
A final written exam (worth 40%) will take place at the end of the course.
Components of the final grade are:
Project Written Report

60%

Friday 3rd October (5pm)

Friday 31st October (5pm)

Part I (20%)
Part II (40%)
Final Exam

Due Dates

40%

Monday 3rd November

(10am-1pm)

Course Coordinator/Lecturer
Professor
Stefano Pampanin

Room
Email
316A-ICT stefano.pampanin@canterbury.ac.nz

Ext
6249

Teaching Assistant
Alberto Cuevas

401-ICT

alberto.cuevasramirez@pg.canterbury.ac.nz

8075

Reading
- NZCS, 2010 PRESSS Design Handbook (Editor: S. Pampanin), New Zealand Concrete
-

Society, Wellington, New Zealand, pp.283

Priestley, M.J.N., Calvi, G.M., Kowalski, M.J., 2007, Displacement-Based Seismic
Design of Structures, IUSS PRESS, Pavia, pp. 721.
Additional reading on the topics covered in class will be provided in electronic form and
uploaded on the repository Learn. More specific reading and literature search might be
necessary as part of the project work.

ENEQ640 Displacement Based Design of Low-Damage Concrete Buildings (v. 06/08/2014)

Professor Stefano Pampanin

LIST OF LECTURES (24 hrs total)

hrs
BLOCK 1
Fundamentals of DBD and Low-Damage Concrete Systems
Day 1 Monday 8th September 9:30am-5:30pm
SP0 Revisiting Performance-Based Design in the aftermath of
the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence

1.5

SP1 Introduction to low-damage technology for reinforced and

precast concrete structures. Emulation vs. jointed ductile
connections. Research & Development.

3.0

SP2 On site implementation around the world

1.5

Day 2 Tuesday 9th September 9:30am-5:30pm

SP3 Fundamentals of Displacement based Design

2.0

SP4 Design Examples: DBD for Frames

1.5

SP5 Design examples: DBD Walls.

1.5

SP6 Introduction to the Design Project.

1.0

BLOCK 2
Connection Design, Analysis and Modeling
Day 1 - Monday 6th October, 9:30am-5:30pm
SP7 Section/Connection analysis theory.

1.5

SP8 Design Examples for beam-column joint and walls

(interactive),

3.0

SP9 Design Examples of single and Coupled walls, including

UFP.

1.5

ENEQ640 Displacement Based Design of Low-Damage Concrete Buildings (v. 06/08/2014)

Professor Stefano Pampanin

Day 2 - Tuesday 7th October, 9:30am-5:30pm

SP10 Modelling using lumped plasticity approach Example.

1.5

SP11 Design Session SAP2000 or others.

1.5

SP12 Displacement incompatibility: issues and solutions

1.5

SP13 Application to other materials (e.g. timber and steel)

1.5

LECTURES TIME SCHEDULE

Monday
Date

Sept 08

AGENDA

9:30-11:00
Break
11:30-13:00
Break
14:00-15:30
Break
16:00-17:30

Monday

Tuesday

SP0

SP3

SP1

SP4

SP1

SP5

SP2

SP6

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

(Room KDO3)
Sept 15

Ruaumoko/
SAP2000
Workshop
(tbc)

16:30-18:00

Sept 22
Sept 29

17:00

Oct 06

9:30-11:00
Break
11:30-13:00
Break
14:00-15:30
Break
16:00-17:30

Project
Part 1 due
SP7

SP10

SP8

SP11

SP8

SP12

SP9

SP13

(Room KGO6)
Oct 13
Oct 20
Oct 27
Nov 03

Project
Part 2 due

17:00
10:00-13:00

Final Exam

ENEQ640 Displacement Based Design of Low-Damage Concrete Buildings (v. 06/08/2014)

Professor Stefano Pampanin