• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.71 no.6
• /
• pp.643-656
• /
• 2019

A new seismic design methodology was proposed for precast concrete diaphragms. This methodology adopts seismic design factors applied on top of current diaphragm design forces. These factors are aimed to produce diaphragm design strengths aligned with different seismic performance targets. These factors were established through extensive parametric studies. These studies used a simple evaluation structure with a single-bay rectangular diaphragm. The simple evaluation structure is suitable for establishment of the design factors over comprehensive structural geometry and design parameters. However, the application of the design factors to prototype structures with realistic layouts requires further verification and investigation. This paper presents diaphragm design of several precast concrete parking structures using the new design methodology and verification of the design factor through nonlinear dynamic time history analyses. The seismic behavior and performance of the diaphragm were investigated for the precast concrete parking structures. It was found that the design factor established for the new design methodology is applicable to the realistic precast concrete parking structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.13-27
• /
• 2021

A new seismic design methodology has been developed for precast concrete diaphragms. Seismic design factors were used to be applied on top of diaphragm seismic design forces in the current code. These factors, established through extensive parametric studies, align diaphragm design strengths with different seismic performance targets. A simplified evaluation structure with a single-bay plan was used in the parametric studies. This simplified evaluation structure is reasonable and cost-effective as it can comprehensively cover structural geometries and design parameters. However, further verification and investigation are required to apply these design factors to prototype structures with realistic layouts. This paper presents diaphragm design of several precast concrete office buildings using the new design methodology. The applicability of the design factor to the office building was evaluated and verified through nonlinear time history analyses. The seismic behavior and performance of the diaphragm were investigated for the precast concrete office buildings. It was found that the design factor established for the new design methodology is applicable to the realistic precast concrete office buildings.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.35-42
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study is to develop precast concrete modules that can be used as a booth and a single-story building with a large space. This precast concrete module is originally designed to have a hexagonal facade when the upper and lower parts, which are symmetrical about horizontal connection line, are combined. A structural design was conducted to ensure structural safety of these precast concrete modules and to extend the slope of the inclined members as far as possible. Then the finite element analysis was performed to estimate the lateral and vertical deflection of complete precast concrete modular structures. And to verify the structural safety of these precast concrete modules, weight loading tests were conducted on the upper and lower modules respectively.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.6 no.5
• /
• pp.527-543
• /
• 2018

Crack control of precast members is crucial for durability. However, there is no clear provision to check the crack width of precast joints. This study presents an experimental investigation of loop joint details for use in a precast bridge deck system. High strength concrete of 130 MPa was chosen for durability and closer joint spacing. Static tests were conducted to investigate the cracking and ultimate behavior of test specimens. The experimental results indicate that current design codes provide reasonable estimation of the flexural strength and cracking load of precast elements with loop joint of high strength concrete. However, the crack width control of the loop joints with high strength concrete by the current design practices was not appropriate. Some recommendations to improve crack control of the loop joint were derived.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.273-282
• /
• 2020

A new seismic design methodology for precast concrete diaphragms has been developed and incorporated into the current American seismic design code. This design methodology recognizes that diaphragm inertial forces during earthquakes are highly influenced by higher dynamic vibration modes and incorporates the higher mode effect into the diaphragm seismic design acceleration determination using a first mode reduced method, which applies the response modification coefficient only to the first mode response but keeps the higher mode response unreduced. However the first mode reduced method does not consider effects of diaphragm flexibility, which plays an important role on the diaphragm seismic response especially for the precast concrete diaphragm. Therefore this paper investigated the effect of diaphragm flexibility on the diaphragm seismic design acceleration for precast concrete shear wall structures through parametric studies. Several design parameters were considered including number of stories, diaphragm geometries and stiffness. It was found that the diaphragm flexibility can change the structural dynamic properties and amplify the diaphragm acceleration during earthquakes. Design equations for mode contribution factors considering the diaphragm flexibility were first established through modal analyses to modify the first mode reduced method in the current code. The modified first mode reduced method has then been verified through nonlinear time history analyses.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.21-34
• /
• 2020

Precast deck joints have larger crack width than cast-in-place concrete decks. The initial crack typically occurs at the maximum moment but cracks on precast joints are significant and lead to failure of the deck. The present crack equation is applied to cast-in-place decks, and requires correction to calculate the crack width of precast deck joints. This research aims to study the crack width correction equation of precast decks by performing static tests using high strength and normal strength concrete. Based on experimental results, the bending strength of the structural connections of the current precast deck is satisfied. However it is not suitable to calculate and control the crack width of precast loop connections using the current design equation. A crack width calculation equation is proposed for crack control of precast deck loop joints. Also included in this paper are recommendations to improve the crack control of loop connections.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.501-516
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of precast concrete pier cap system. The proposed precast pier cap provides an alternative to current cast-in-place systems, particularly for projects in which a reduced construction time is desired. Five large-scale pier cap specimens were constructed and tested under quasistatic monotonic loading. The computer program, RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology) was used for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures. A bonded tendon element is used based on the finite element method, and can represent the interaction between the tendon and concrete of a prestressed concrete member. A joint element is used in order to predict the inelastic behaviors of segmental joints with a shear key. This study documents the testing of the precast concrete pier cap system under monotonic loading and presents conclusions and design recommendations based on the experimental and analytical findings. Additional full-scale experimental research is needed to refine and confirm design details, especially for actual detailing employed in the field.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2024.07a
• /
• pp.487-493
• /
• 2024

Presently, prefabricated concrete panels are extensively employed in diverse construction projects across the globe due to their exceptional quality. To maintain the overall quality of these construction projects, it is crucial to ensure that the dimensions of precast concrete panels align with their designated design specifications. Therefore, it is essential to develop a methodology capable of quickly and accurately measuring the dimensions of precast concrete panels. Currently, there are many advanced technologies used to examine the dimensions of prefabricated concrete panels such as terrestrial laser scanning, which is prone to time consuming and cost inefficiencies. To address these limitations, this study suggests a computer vision-based approach that utilizes April Tag markers and images taken from a mobile phone to measure and evaluate the dimensions and quality of precast concrete panels. The proposed algorithm operates as follows: Initially, the RGB image coordinates are converted to the world coordinate systems using April tag markers. Following, the masks of the precast concrete components are extracted using the state-of-the-art Segment Anything Model (SAM). Finally, an algorithm based on image processing technique is developed to estimate the dimensional properties of precast concrete panels. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through preliminary experiments conducted in the field-scale precast slabs, and the result is evaluated by comparing to the manual measurement result.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2024

Precast deck joints have problems due to the occurrence of additional processes at construction sites, the complexity of construction, and the lack of design and construction standards for precast deck joints. To solve these, this study proposes a new precast deck joint that uses an Ultra-High-Performance Fiber-reinforced Cement Composite (UHPFRCC) filling material containing steel fibers and a straight rebar joint. In addition, the structural performance of the proposed joint, based on various parameters, was compared to that of existing precast deck joints, and the proposed joint showed equivalent strength and ductility. Therefore, the proposed joint can solve construction site problems by replacing the existing ones. The influence of various variables is expected to provide basic data on the design and construction guidelines for the precast deck joints.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2024

Code-compliant seismic design should be essentially applied to realize the so-called emulative performance of precast concrete (PC) lateral force-resisting systems, and this study developed simple procedures to design precast industrial buildings with intermediate precast bearing wall systems considering both the effect of seismic and blast loads. Seismic design provisions specified in ACI 318 and ASCE 7 can be directly adopted, for which the so-called 1.5S_y condition is addressed in PC wall-to-wall and wall-to-base connections. Various coupling options were considered and addressed in the seismic design of wall-to-wall connections for the longitudinal and transverse design directions to secure optimized performance and better economic feasibility. On the other hand, two possible methods were adopted in blast analysis: 1) Equivalent static analysis (ESA) based on the simplified graphic method and 2) Incremental dynamic time-history analysis (IDTHA). The ESA is physically austere to use in practice for a typical industrial PC-bearing wall system. Still, it showed an overestimating trend in terms of the lateral deformation. The coupling action between precast wall segments appears to be inevitably required due to substantially large blast loads compared to seismic loads with increasing blast risk levels. Even with the coupled-precast shear walls, the design outcome obtained from the ESA method might not be entirely satisfactory to the drift criteria presented by the ASCE Blast Design Manual. This drawback can be overcome by addressing the IDTHA method, where all the design criteria were fully satisfied with precast shear walls' non-coupling and group-coupling strength, where each individual or grouped shear fence was designed to possess 1.5S_y for the seismic design.