Evaluation of Reduction Factor for Precast Concrete Large Panel Buildings

The term “large panels” refers to structures that use large precast panels as their main horizontal load resistance system. Precast concrete large panels are most economical to use because of their higher quality and the reduced construction time associated with them. The most important requirement for their construction is the structural analysis of their true behaviorin the structure. Nowadays, the most important part of seismic design of structures is carried out based on equivalent static method and calculation of seismic forces based on the linear spectrum of an earthquake using a structural reduction factor. The determination of the reduction factor seems necessary in structural seismic design given its utmost significance. In this research, many kinds of precast structures with different stories and bays are considered. The seismic behaviour of such structures is strongly dependent upon the characteristics of both horizontal and vertical connections between panels. A variety of assumptions have been made in this study drawing upon experimental research in which the static pushover analysis has been used. The results show that the reduction factors based on existing codes are conservative.