BEHAVIOUR OF THE PRECAST PORTAL FRAMES UNDER LATERAL LOADING

Nowadays, there is an increasing trend towards construction of buildings using precast concrete. In precast concrete construction, all the components of structures are produced in controlled environment and they are being transported to the site. At site, such individual components are connected appropriately. In precast construction, ductility is essential for providing protection against the effects of unexpectedly large lateral forces. Dry connections in a precast structure usually introduce discontinuities in strength and stiffness which is expected to attract deformations and damage under lateral load during an earthquake. Therefore, it is important to study the behaviour of precast connection under lateral loading, since slender structures are mostly sensitive to lateral forces. In this paper, experimental study of behaviour of precast portal frame with different connection detailing under lateral load is reported. Experiments are conducted on three test specimens including one monolithic portal frame and two portal frames having precast connections with cleat angle and with reinforced concrete (RC) corbel, that are subjected to lateral load. Performance of test specimens are evaluated in terms of load carrying capacity, deflection profile of columns and measurement of strain at critical locations on concrete surface as well as steel reinforcement bars and failure pattern. From the results, it is observed that behaviour of precast portal frame having beam column connection with cleat angle is almost similar as that of monolithic portal frame.