Retrofitting Non-Ductile RC Frames for Seismic Resistance Using Post-Installed Shear Walls

Abstract

Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame structures that were designed and built according to older standards can be damaged during destructive earthquakes as a result of insufficient lateral strength and/or deformation capacity. Such structures must be retrofitted to satisfy the current requirements and to survive future earthquakes. Owing to its high lateral strength and stiffness capacity of an RC wall, the post-installation of an RC wall in a non-ductile frame for retrofit is a widely used retrofitting technique. However, for frame structures with low-strength concrete, the typically used connected construction method on the interface between existing and new concrete may be not able to provide effective force transfer, and may cause unexpected brittle failure in the retrofitted structure. Such unexpected brittle failure may reduce the seismic capacity of the structure and threaten its safety. Therefore, in this experimental investigation, two retrofitting methods that use a post-installed RC wall are proposed to improve the load transfer mechanism on the interface. The first involves a wall with diagonal rebar and boundary spirals, and the second involves a wall with an additional inner frame. A typical traditional retrofitting specimen was constructed and tested for comparison. Reversed cyclic loading is used to test the seismic capacity of the specimens. Finally, post-embedded piezoceramic-based sensors were used to monitor the structural health and detect damage in one of specimens during the test. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the piezoceramic-based approach to structural health monitoring and the ability of the method to detect damage in shear governed RC structures under seismic loading.