Performance of interior post-tensioned concrete wide beams when subjected to lateral earthquake loading

Abstract

Concrete wide beam systems are widely used in Australia despite the fact that their performance under lateral earthquake loading is still uncertain. Moreover, the majority of the wide beams are in fact post-tensioned. In this research, an interior post-tensioned concrete wide beam subassemblage was tested under quasi-static cyclic loading to determine its performance under lateral loading. A special debonding strategy was implemented in the design of the subassemblage to improve the performance of the connection. The subassemblage was tested up to a drift ratio of 3.5% and was found to perform very well. Overall, the subassemblage was found to possess low energy dissipation capacity, good displacement capacity and small residual drift. Main issues investigated in the test were the formation and growth of cracks, behavior of the hysteretic response and the strain behavior in the specimen. Finally the results from this investigation are compared with the results from a previous investigation on a similar reinforced concrete subassemblage.