Hysteretic behavior of exterior post-tensioned flat plate connections

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate hysteretic behavior of exterior post-tensioned flat plate slab–column connections (PT connections) designed to resist only gravity loads. For this purpose, experimental studies were conducted using three approximately two-thirds-scale test specimens; two exterior PT connection specimens having different tendon layouts and one exterior reinforced concrete flat plate slab–column connection (RC connection) specimen. Quasi-static cyclic loading was applied to the specimen with a constant gravity load. All specimens had bottom bonded reinforcement around the column as required by ACI 352.1R-89. This study collects previous test results to draw a general conclusion for the hysteretic behavior of the PT exterior connections. This study observed that the tendon layout influenced the hysteretic behavior of PT exterior connections, which means that lateral drift capacity, dissipated energy, failure mechanism, and ductility vary with respect to tendon layouts. Moreover, this study shows that the amount of bottom reinforcement specified by the ACI 352.1R-89 is sufficient for resisting positive moments resulting from moment reversal under the cyclic loading. Shear strength of the test specimens is more accurately predicted by the shear strength equation considering average compressive strength ( f p c ) due to post-tensioning tendons than that without considering f p c .