SEISMIC PERFORMANCE ANALYSES OF A DAMAGE-CONTROLLING RC FRAME WITH DAMPING CLADDING PANELS

As a high-performance envelope component, precast concrete cladding panels are widely used in assembled buildings. To use the relative deformation between the cladding panels and the main structure, the steel bar and U-shaped damper (USD) connection methods are adopted at the top and the bottom of the cladding panels respectively to form an RC frame with damping cladding panels (F-USD). Furthermore, a damage-controlling RC frame with damping cladding panels (F-USDRW) is proposed through setting rocking walls in the F-USD. Based on a calibrated numerical model, a series of dynamic time-history analyses are performed to compare the USD energy dissipation with the structural responses of the frame, F-USD and F-USDRW under major earthquakes. The results show that the proposed cladding panels can achieve a damping target. In the F-USD, the USDs among stories occur with an uneven distribution of energy consumption, and the USDs at certain stories even do not yield. In the F-USDRW, the rocking wall can effectively control the distribution of inter-story shear and displacement, and the USDs at all stories can enter the plastic stage; thus, the energy consumption efficiency is improved and the structural displacement responses and the residual deformations are more effectively reduced.