الفهرس 
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Abstract
Current codes do not contain separate provision for the design of precast concrete buildings subjected to seismic loading. Precast concrete buildings are designed accpording to the same previsions as monolithic structures. The use of precast construction is seismic areas depnds on the existence of a strong ductil connection between precast elements. The common practice of connecting precast elements at the column face usually leads to the formation of plastic deformation in the connection elements. This will cause stiffness and strength deterioration to take place. A new framing methology for precast construction is investigated. It calls for connecting precast elements away from the column face using fibrous cast-in-place material.
In this investigation, twelve simple beam specimens, six beam-column subassem-blages and three fixed cantilever beam specimens, were tested under quasi-static loading simulating earthquake excitation. All the specimens were constructed from precast elements connected together with a cast-in-place (CIP) joint using Slurry In-filtrared Fiberc CONcrete (SIFCON) as the matrix. The main objective of the study was the development of a strong ductil connection between the precast elements which will serve as a location for the dissipation of the input energy from an earthquake. The location of the CIP joint was set to be one depth away from the column face.
Based on the test results, it was concluded that using the CIP SIFCON joint provides a strong connection and can serve as a plastic hinge for structures. It was observed that if cracking occurs inside the SIFCON CIP joint, it tends to concentrate as one major crack. This leads to stiffness degradation and loss of load carrying capacity. However, energy dissipation when using SIFCON was up to five times that obtained using conventional concrete. Specimens which were designed so that the contribution of the interface would delay cracking inside the CIP joint, showed much imptoved behavior.