Analytical prediction of the shear resistance of precast RC pinned beam-to-column connections

In the research presented herein, analytical investigation was undertaken with regard to the behaviour of precast RC pinned beam-to-column connections provided by steel dowels, under static, monotonic and cyclic, loading. In particular, the main scope of this investigation was the development of a numerical model and its calibration against available experimental data, which were used to prove the efficiency of the proposed model to provide an analytical prediction of the shear resistance of precast RC pinned beam-to-column connections. The results of sixteen experiments under monotonic and cyclic loading were used for the calibration of the model. The experiments used for the calibration and validation of the model were performed at the Laboratory for Earthquake Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece in the framework of the European FP7 project, SAFECAST. The numerical model was developed within the environment of Abaqus/Standard general purpose finite element software by applying the Concrete Smeared Cracking Model for the modelling of the concrete. To substantiate the analytical approach, three-dimensional nonlinear simulation of the precast pinned beam-to-column connection was utilized. All related parameters and properties with regard to the materials, boundary conditions, interaction properties etc, are duly described. The obtained numerical results demonstrate that the proposed model provides reasonably accurate prediction of the shear resistance of precast RC pinned beamto-column connections under static, cyclic and monotonic, actions and, thus, it can be an effective tool for further investigation of the response of precast structures.