Civil Engineering Association

Shake table tests of under-designed RC frames for the seismic retrofit of buildings – design and similitude requirements of the benchmark specimen

In the past years, extensive experimental work on innovative feasible retrofit solutions has been carried out at the University of Canterbury, as part of the FRST Project ‘Seismic Retrofit Solutions for NZ Multi-storey Buildings’. The experiments have consisted in quasi-static test of 2/3 scale beam column joint subassemblies representative of pre-70’s reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings, referred herein as under-designed structures (non-ductile detailing, no capacity design principles), before and after retrofit.
As a dynamic validation of the seismic vulnerability of such structures and the feasibility of the developed and improved retrofit solutions, a series of 4 1/2.5 scale experimental models (two 3 storey - 2 bay frames jointed together by transverse beams and floor slabs) will be tested on the shake table, without and with a seismic retrofit intervention and without and with infill panels. The retrofit interventions will include techniques such as the Metallic Haunch, FRP layers, and Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) braces, targeting for two different performance levels: Life Safety and Damage Control. In this paper, the overall description of the dynamic tests, the development of the experimental models and the similitude requirements are described.