Experimental evaluation of a locally prestressed precast concrete wall under repeated loading histories: Seismic performance and repairability

Abstract

Seismic damage and residual deformation of buildings usually lead to high repair costs and business downtime. To develop more repairable structures, the locally prestressed precast concrete wall (LPPW) has been proposed, which allows the post-tensioning (PT) tendons and dissipaters to be easily replaced. This paper conducted quasi-static tests on the LPPW to investigate the influence of the height of the upper anchorage points of the PT tendons and to evaluate the seismic performance of the LPPW under repeated loading and post-repair loading. The test results showed that the decrease in the anchorage height of the PT tendons increased the post-yield stiffness and prestress losses of the LPPW. The seismic performance of LPPW was retained well under repeated loading in terms of the bearing capacity, energy-dissipating capacity, and self-centering capacity. The post-repair LPPW restored most of the original seismic performance, validating the excellent repairability of LPPW. Moreover, a parametric analysis was conducted using the numerical mode validated through the experimental results. The analysis revealed that the drift ratio corresponding to the yielding of the PT tendons decreased with a lower anchorage point height; increasing the axial compression ratio enhanced the bearing capacity and reduced the drift ratio at the ultimate state of the LPPW; enlarging the cross-sectional area of dissipaters positively affected the bearing capacity, energy dissipation, and shear-weight ratio of the LPPW.