IN SERVICE SEISMIC STRENGTHENING OF RC FRAMED BUILDINGS

An innovative non-evacuation retrofitting technique has been developed for RC buildings, which form the major portion of the existing stock in Turkey. The introduction of cast-in-place RC infill walls, connected to existing frame members, is known to be very effective in improving the overall seismic performance. However, this technique is not suitable since it involves messy construction work and requires evacuation. The idea behind the proposed method is to transform existing hollow masonry infill walls into strong and rigid infill walls by reinforcing them with relatively high strength precast concrete panels epoxy-glued to the wall and dowel connected to the frame members to enhance the lateral stiffness of the frame. The panels to be assembled are small enough to be handled by two workers. All specimens were tested to failure under reversed cyclic quasi-static lateral loading and constant vertical load. All strengthened specimens exhibited superior performance compared to the reference specimens designed to represent the present state of ordinary RC frames with hollow brick infill walls plastered on both sides.