EVALUATION OF THE SEISMIC BEHAVIOR OF PRECAST REINFORCED CONCRETE BUILDINGS WITH ENERGY DISSIPATING DEVICES

P. MATA; A. BARBAT; S. OLLER

Seminario; 9th World Seminar on Seismic Isolation, Energy Dissipation and Active Vibration Control of Structures; 2005

The numerical response of two precast buildings subjected to earthquake loading is studied in this work. The dynamic response of the structures equipped with energy dissipators is compared with the case when dissipators are not employed. The first structure is a low damped industrial precast reinforced concrete building with low ductility connecting joints. The second one is a three-dimensional frame typically built in urban areas with moderate seismicity. The structures are modeled using the Vu Quoc?Simo formulation of beams and rods in finite strain. Each beam section is meshed in a secondary grid of quadrilaterals, each of them representing a fiber along  the beam axis. The materials of the fibers can be composed of several components having appropriated constitutive laws. The simple mixing theory is used to treat the resulting composite. A special kind of element is developed for modeling the dissipating devices. The ?dissipator element? is able to dissipate energy by mean of hysteretic cycles during the dynamic action. Different types of dissipating mechanisms are allowed for the dissipating devices.