Tests and analyses of a full-scale post-tensioned RCS frame subassembly

Abstract A series of cyclic tests of a full-scale one-story two-bay specimen frame, a substructure of a three-story post-tensioned (PT) self-centering (SC) building using reinforced concrete columns and steel beams, were conducted in the Taiwan National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering. The objectives of the tests were: (1) to examine the connection performance, progress of damage, and strength degradation of the frame, (2) to assess the hysteretic responses of the frame subjected to various loading patterns, and (3) to study the effects of column restraints on the frame expansion. Time-history analyses of the three-story PT building subjected to the design basis earthquake (DBE) and the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) were conducted to investigate seismic demands of the proposed system. These tests confirmed the SC response of the PT frame and explored failure of the beam compression toe, which was never observed in prior tests of beam–column subassemblages. The nonlinear structural analysis computer program PISA could be used to simulate the experimental results well; time-history analyses of the three-story building showed that the proposed frame can meet seismic demands by MCE level ground motions.