Stepped Facade Created Using Overlay Panels of External Walls

During the sixty-year period of existence of domestic large-panel housing construction, this type of housing remains the most popular due to its affordability. The transition to flexible technologies for the production of panel buildings makes it possible to create high-quality and comfortable housing. However, there is some return to the construction of panel buildings with flat monotonous expressionless facades. The article describes a method for creating stepped facades using overlay panels of external walls, the connection of decorative external layers in which «overlap» is made. This makes it possible to create stepped facades in a simple technological way, hide part of the vertical seams, increase the output of products, and simplify the achievement of the desired apartment layout. The method is protected by a Eurasian patent. Keywords: stepped exterior panel, overhead exterior panel, «overlap» connection, loop precast-monolithic connections, stepped facade, apartment layouts, multi-hollow plates.

Nonlinear analysis of monolithic beam-column connections for reinforced concrete frames

abstract: This paper deals with nonlinear analysis of deformability of monolithic beam-column connections for bending moments in framed reinforced concrete structures. Due to the simplicity, the connections deformability is considered by using an analytical model of moment-rotation curve. Material nonlinearity of the structural elements is considered by using the flexural stiffness obtained in moment-curvature relationship of the sections. The formulation of the analytical model to obtain the relative rotations between beam and column and the formulation to construct moment-curvature curves is deduced and presented to allow the computational implementation in structural analysis software. The numerical simulations carried out in this study indicated that even in the case of monolithic connections, taking into account the bending moment deformability of the connections leads to significantly better results than the hypothesis of fully rigid connections.

Experimental study of reinforced concrete pile caps with external, embedded and partially embedded socket with smooth interface

On Precast concrete structures the column foundation connections can occur through the socket foundation, which can be embedded, partially embedded or external, with socket walls over the pile caps. This paper presents an experimental study about two pile caps reinforced concrete with external, partially embedded and embedded socket submitted to central load, using 1:2 scaled models. In the analyzed models, the smooth interface between the socket walls and column was considered. The results are compared to a reference model that presents monolithic connections between the column and pile cap. It is observed that the ultimate load of pile cap with external sockets has the same magnitude as the reference pile cap, but the ultimate load of models with partially embedded and embedded socket present less magnitude than the reference model.

Wide Beam-Column Connections under Earthquake-Type Loading

Wide beam-column connections, whose beams are wider than their supporting columns, are often found in one-way concrete joist systems and in other buildings where floor-to-ceiling heights are restricted. Research into the seismic behavior of these connections stems from the recommendation by ACI-ASCE Committee 352 (Monolithic Connections in R/C Framed Structures) that these connections be evaluated for use in high seismic zones. Four exterior 3/4-scale specimens, including transverse beam with reinforcement, were tested at the University of Michigan Structural Engineering Laboratory. The effects of joint shear stress level, fraction of beam longitudinal reinforcement anchored in the column core, and beam-width to column-width ratios (bw/bc) were explored as part of this research. The experiments show that wide beam-column connections can be used in high seismic zones if they are detailed correctly. If they are not detailed correctly, the exterior connections will be incapable of transferring the plastic hinge bending moments to the column because the transverse beam cracks in torsion. To prevent this cracking of the transverse beam, limits on the torque applied to the transverse beam are proposed.