International Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Management ISSN 2320 3439, Vol. 02, No.

. 02, March 2013, pp. 41 - 45

Study on Prefabricated Concrete Beam and Column Connections

VASIREDDY GANGADHARA RAMESH BABU1, BANDLA NAKULESH1, P.SIDDHARTHA1 A. VENKATESWARA RAO2, B. SARATH CHANDRA KUMAR2
Student, Department of Civil Engineering, K L University, Guntur, AP, India Faculty, Department of Civil Engineering, K L University, Guntur, AP, India Email: ramesh55vasireddy@gmail.com, nakuleshb@gmail.com, siddu.reddy143@gmail.com, sarath.9b@kluniversity.in
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Abstract: Prefabrication is very efficient in terms of cost, time and quality. Prefabrication construction systems have been widely adopted throughout the world. Prefabrication together with the increasing use of standardization and mechanization has change in the development of the construction field over a last few decades. Prefabricated concrete provides the advantages of construction effectiveness, high levels of quality control, savings of construction time, minimization of skilled labor, reduce wastage and saving form work. In this paper we are focusing on the connections of beam and column. The difference between connections of prefabricated beam and cast-in-situ column and connection of prefabricated beam and column. Two types of specimens in prefabricated beam and column they are monolithic specimen and precast specimen are discussed. Strength, stiffness, damping and energy dissipation of specimens were studied. Specimens were tested under a displacement-controlled cyclic load history that was based on the drift angle and that represented a severe load condition for a beam-column joint. During specimen fabrication, it was clear the ease, speed and reliability of construction with the connections are tested. Specimen failure was controlled by shear at joints. Skilled labor, well knowledge site engineers and good observation of connecting joints are need in prefabrication works. This paper concludes the prefabrication concrete beam and column connection in detailed. Key Word: Prefabricated concrete, Connection beams-columns, Monolithic specimen, precast specimens. Introduction Prefabrication concrete elements are one of the most remarkable developments in the constructions of concrete structures. In last few years, prefabricated concrete elements have been used extensively and widely for architectural and structure buildings around world [1]. In prefabricated concrete provides advantages such as easy management of construction schedules ,saving construction times ,quality control, reduce of skilled workers and efficiency use of materials [2]. The prefabricated concrete having a special qualities of fire protection, high thermal capability, durability and acoustic insulation of any climatic conditions. For using this prefabricated technology has been proven architectural flexibility, superior quality, less labor requirement, ease of construction at site, less wastage of natural resources, low maintenance good solution for work safety. Countries like India is also facing a shortage of skilled labor in construction field, prefabrication works required less labor intensive. Construction of mass structures is critical in context of seismicity in India. In coming year India had a threat of earth quake effects in and around India, The seismic zone map has been subdivided India into 5 zones mainly I, II, III, IV and V. The seismic high intensity is expected maximum in zones marked as V and higher [3]. The seismic zone maps are updated regularly .The mass structures contributes to the lateral forces and stresses and leading to uneconomical designs. With implementation of prefabrication concrete components and slender members, the mass of structure is controlled, economical design and material savings [4]. In construction and development of prefabricated concrete is due to environmental protection material, it avoidance of waste and minimize waste, prefabrication of building has proven to reduce construction waste by up to 52% [5]. Prefabricated concrete buildings are structures made up of numerous small individual elements of concrete cast at an off-site location. These prefabricated elements such as beams, columns, slabs and walls are transported to the site for assemblage and erection [6]. Building development adopted s, such as prefabricated faade, prefabricated walls, prefabricated stairs, prefabricated beams and columns [7]. We are focusing on connections between beam and columns. While assembling the prefabricated beam and columns some problems will raised. The joints created with time difference between connection and its surrounding concrete. Since there is no building code specified for prefabricated structures, all designs are done with cast in place concrete design codes, beam and column connections must designed in another methods [8]. The main objective to discuss about the connection of prefabricated beam- cast in situ column and prefabricated beam- prefabricated column. The two types of specimens in prefabricated beam and column are monolithic specimen and precast specimen. For the pervious papers many test gone through on the specimen. Failures of prefabrication connection based on beam and column relevant moment rotation are studied from literature reviews.

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VASIREDDY GANGADHARA RAMESH BABU, BANDLA NAKULESH, P.SIDDHARTHA A. VENKATESWARA RAO, B. SARATH CHANDRA KUMAR
Prefabrication together with increasing use of standardization and mechanization has brought a rapid change in the development of construction field throughout the world. Prefabrication techniques lead to increases large-scale and high-rise constructions [15]. Placing a prefabricated beam and column connection is evaluated by moment capacity, moment rotation response at the end of the beam and by the failure mechanisms within the connection zone. To shifting the concentration of beam rotation away from the connections to produce greater rotational stiffness, n order to introduce an emulative connection that could be the same way as rigid connections. Additional short bars of length equal to the column width plus two times the beam depth, horizontal links at the beam ends [16]. The development for multistoried building frames with connections, which is focused on maximum end moment of frame. There is a mathematical relationship is developed and used for design and analysis of joints of a particular type. The linear moment curvature (M-) relationship is for this particular type of connections required. Using this relationship investigations have been carried out to study the behavior of precast building frame such as connection flexibility and its effect on internal distribution of forces, lateral drift, and joint rotation [17]. Two beam-column joints were constructed and tested under unidirectional and bi-directional cyclic loading that simulated earthquake-type motions. Connection between Prefabricated Beam and Cast-In-Situ Column Different types of beam-column connections have been introduced to join the prefabricated beam element to column elements. In present study the beam is prefabricated and the column is cast-in-situ. The beam is connected with a plate at the end which was welded to longitudinal section of beam. The dowel bars placed transversely in column is welded to steel plate. After complete casting of column in the site, the manufactured beam is placed by means of connection. Bolting of steel plate at the top and bottom portion of the beam should be done. Washer should be incorporated in the joints to avoid point contact and cracking of element [17]. Connection between Prefabricated Beam And Column Internal connection in multistory prefabricated building, a cruciform sub frame was considered. In each cruciform sub frame consisted of one column and two continuous beams as shown in Fig-2. The beam and column connection they are two types of specimens are monolithic specimen and precast specimen. The beam and columns for both monolithic

Review of Literature Prefabricated concrete construction is a key stimulant to industrialization and economical growth in developing countries, prefabrication is preferred on the building components are made off-site in a factory. Off site fabrication provides an effective constructional technique in terms of quality, time, cost, management, function and safety [9]. The advantages of prefabricated building systems: [10-13] 1. Shorter construction time - less than half of conventional cast in-situ construction 2. Independent of adverse weather conditions during construction 3. Continuing erection in Winter time until -20 C 4. Quality surveillance system 5. Factory made products 6. Opportunities for good architecture 7. Healthy buildings 8. Environmentally friendly way of building with optimum use of materials, recycling of waste products, less noise and dust etc 9. Cost effective solutions 10. Reduce construction waste Table 1: Comparing benefits of prefabrication elements and on-site building process [14] Factor
Quality

Prefabrication
In a climate-controlled environment using efficient equipment operated by well-trained people. Speedy process (up to 70% less)

On-site
Uncertain weather can result in less-than expected construction. Time consuming. The process can be delayed by weather or scheduling conflicts. Uncontrollable variables such as weather and scheduling can increase the construction cost More Bigger space is needed. In addition costly scaffolding is often necessary for installation. A significant amount of waste produced and removed from the site, which often adds to cost.

Speed

Cost

Greater control over manufacturing results dramatically reduces the chance of cost overruns.

Versatility

Site space

Less Panels arrive on a flatbed trailer and are installed with sufficient listing plants.

Less waste is generated at the site. Site refuse

International Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Management ISSN 2320 3439, Vol. 02, No. 02, March 2013, pp. 41 - 45

Study on Prefabricated Concrete Beam and Column Connections

and precast specimens were manufactured using concrete of different grade basing on requirement [18].

Precast Specimen With reference to the monolithic specimen-before and after concreting the cruciform consists of one column and two continuous beams. As shown in Fig-3, half depth precast beams were installed on both sides of corbels, the installation of top reinforcement bars, while the bottom reinforcement bars were already cast in the half beam [18]. To complete the connection between prefabricated beam and prefabricated column, see Fig-4, a second stage of concreting using wet cast-in-place concrete was carried out, at site simple formwork should done along the beam [19].

Fig-1: Connection with stiffener between prefabricate reinforced concrete beam and cast-in-situ column in prefabricated building frames.

Fig-4: Precast specimen- before and after concreting Test Setup In test setup the column ends and beam ends were pinned. The upper column was connected to the reaction through double-action hydraulic actuators [16]. Beams were connected to the reaction floor through steel struts with hinges at their ends. Specimens were tested under a displacementcontrolled cyclic load history that was based on the drift angle and that represented a severe load condition for a beam-column joint. The loading sequence originated from recommendations made by ACI (1997). Three cycles at same drift level were applied. Bi-directional cycles to 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 percent drift angle were applied in specimen. No axial load was applied to the columns since experimental evidence suggests that axial load has no effect in the joint shear strength [20].

Fig-2: Cruciform Sub Frame [18] Monolithic Specimen Monolithic specimen developed for comparison with precast specimens results according to cast in place basing on different concrete recommendations. In this monolithic specimen the cruciform consists of one column and two continuous beams they are crossed each other as shown in Fig-3.The beam and columns are casted in a cage so that concrete should cover total reinforcement. The total casting should be done in one stage [8].

Fig-3: Monolithic specimen- before and after concreting

Fig-5: Displacement-controlled test sequence [20]

International Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Management ISSN 2320 3439, Vol. 02, No. 02, March 2013, pp. 41 - 45

VASIREDDY GANGADHARA RAMESH BABU, BANDLA NAKULESH, P.SIDDHARTHA A. VENKATESWARA RAO, B. SARATH CHANDRA KUMAR
Test Procedure To simulate upper storied loading, a compressive force which representing compressive stress in the column was first applied using hydraulic jack within a self equilibrating frame or a reaction frame in the case .the negative moment was applied to the connection through eccentric beams loads both acting at two specimens from the face of column, i.e. 3.63 and 3.05 times beam depth, respectively. In order to study the effect of the reversible loading on the recovery of the strain, in one specimen, the beam load was reversed at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the expecting yielding moment. Loading and unloading increments were 5KN and10KN, respectively. The applied beam loads induced horizontal reactions at the ends of the column catered for by pinned jointed restraints [16]. yielding of connections is analyzed through following relevant parameters [21]: 1. Ultimate bending moment MU. 2. Rotational stiffness S. 3. Ultimate capacity of rotational ductility U.

Fig-7: Rotation of the beam relative to the column A rigid connection is based on the assumption that in case of deformation, the angle closed by the beams and the columns, the walls and the floors structures, in the connection remains unchanged after deformation. In experiments carried out in the paper [22], prefabricated connections are found to have an area within which a relative rotation of the beam plate occurs in relation to rotation of the column wall. This area is called the joint area zone, the relative rotation within the joint from the rotation due to deformability of the beam plate at highly complex. Test Results Behavior of the specimens was compared together with respect to dynamic parameters such as stiffness degradation, energy dissipation, damping ratio and ductility of specimen factors. All of these above parameters are non-dimensional values to estimate the connection detail and strength of the specimen [8]. Conclusions 1. Two types of connections tested proved to be sufficient and reliable in the construction of prefabricated concrete structures Joint shear strength of monolithic and precast specimens percentages satisfies the construction factors , initial shear cracking occurs at lower levels of nominal shear stress in specimens Monolithic specimen had a good energy dissipation characteristic. The damagers are more and cracks are wider in precast specimen.

Fig-6: Test setup and instrumentations [8] The test specimens were restrained in horizontal plane on some rollers to move freely and then boundary conditions were applied. For applying point of contra flexure in frame members due to lateral loads, the supports of test set-up in column bottom and end of beam were pinned at one end and roller at another end. The axial force was applied to column bottom with a hydraulic jack as shown in Fig-6. Lateral loading was applied gradually to column top, mostly with displacement control, until to achieving desired drift angle. Loading in stage1 was applied at observation of fine cracks. In the next stage, loads were applied at 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3% drift angle. Three cycles loading was applied in each drift levels. But at the end of cycles, crack widths were monitored at the end of each loading stage. Finally, test was terminated at 6% drift angle [8]. Failure of Prefabricated Connections Prefabricated connections are more complex and less defined because the model is almost impossible to unify. The study of working mechanism of prefabricated connections is reduced to comparisons with monolithic connections and precast connection, the definition of yielding connections with respect to monolithic connections and precast connection. The

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International Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Management ISSN 2320 3439, Vol. 02, No. 02, March 2013, pp. 41 - 45

Study on Prefabricated Concrete Beam and Column Connections

All specimens satisfy seismic behavior even all of building code requirements and they are applicable in moderate to high seismic zones. Reference [1] R. Koojaroenpaisan and T. Waroonkun, Modeling of factors impacting adoption of precast concrete, Management and innovation for a sustainable built environment, pp-20-23, 2011. [2] Z.A.Akasah and Ng Ban Kiong, An overview of precast concrete system for building maintenance: Malaysian perspective . International journal of engineering science & advanced technology, vol.02, issue-06, 1684 1689. [3] http://www.indianpulse.in/bharat-gaurav/169earthquake-zones-in-india.html./14-12-2012. [4] O.Ertas and S.Ozden, Modeling of pre-cast concrete hybrid connections by considering the residual deformations, International journal of the physical sciences journals, vol.05(6), pp.781-792, 2010 [5] C.M.Tam,Vivian W.Y.Tam,john K.W.Chan and William.C.Y.NG, Use of prefabrication to minimize construction waste - A case study approach , The international journal of construction management, pp-91-101,2005. [6] M.N.A.Azman, M.S.S.Ahamad and W.M.A.Wan Hussin, Comparative study on prefabrication construction process, International surveying research journal, vol.02, no.01, pp.45-58, 2012. [7] Felix Wong and YT Tang, Comparative carbon analysis of the prefabrication element in residential building development of Hong Kong, International journal of civil and environmental engineering, 2012. [8] H.Shariatmadar and E.Zamani Beydokhti, Experimental investigation of precast concrete beam to column connections subjected to reversed cyclic loads, 6th international conference on seismology and earthquake engineering. [9] Souma M, Alhaj Ali, Ayman A.Abu Hammad, Ghaleb J, Sweis and Murad S.Samhouri, Productivity Improvement Of Pre-Cast Concrete Installation, Jordan journal of civil engineering, vol. 03, no. 02 ,2009. [10] Narayanan Neithalath and Nathan Schwarz, Properties of Cast-In-Place Concrete and Precast Concrete Blocks Incorporating Waste Glass Powder, The Open Construction and Building Technology Journal, vol.03, pp.4251, 2009.

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International Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Management ISSN 2320 3439, Vol. 02, No. 02, March 2013, pp. 41 - 45