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Report # 83 : Precast concrete panel apartment buildings

August 22, 2011 By

by Maria D. Bostenaru, Ilie Sandu

This multi-family urban housing construction type was built in Romania from the 1960s through the 1990s. The load-bearing system is a precast-reinforced-concrete large-panel construction. Buildings of this type are typically high-rises (10 or 11 stories), although there are also low-to medium-rise buildings (4 to 8 stories) with different structural details. In general, these buildings consist of a rectangular plan, with a honeycomb (“fagure”) layout, typically housing four apartments per floor. Wall panels are laid in both the longitudinal and the transverse direction. The panels are mechanically coupled at the base with continuous vertical reinforcement bars. This region is well-known as an earthquake-prone area, with the epicenter of damaging earthquakes close to Vrancea. Earthquakes with a Richter magnitude of over 7.0 occur, on average, every 30 years. Bucharest, the capital, is located around 150 km south of the epicenter and lies in the main direction of the propagation of seismic waves. The Bucharest area is located on the banks of the Dâmbovita and Colentina rivers, on non-homogenous alluvial soil deposits. During the earthquake of 4 March 1977 (Richter magnitude 7.2), over 30 buildings collapsed in Bucharest, killing 1,424 people. There was no significant damage reported to the buildings of this construction type in the 1977 earthquake. Consequently, this construction technique has continued to be practiced since the earthquake. The building described in this report was built after the 1977 earthquake and so far has not been exposed to damaging earthquakes.

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Filed Under: Europe, Precast Concrete, Reinforced Concrete, Romania

Report # 68 : Precast, prestressed concrete frame structure with concrete shear walls

August 22, 2011 By

by Radovan Dimitrijevic

This housing type is a prefabricated frame structure, consisting of precast concrete columns and other structural elements, e.g., waffle floor slabs, edge girders, stairs, and wall panels. The frame structure carries the gravity load, while shear walls are the main lateral load-resisting elements. The main feature of this technology is that the key structural elements are joined together by prestressing in two orthogonal horizontal directions. The technology has been used in Yugoslavia during the last 40 years under the proprietary name, IMS Building System, and it can be found in all major Yugoslav cities, including Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, etc., and also in other countries, such as Cuba, the Philippines, and Egypt. To date, around 400,000 housing units (approximately 2.5 million m² of the built area) have been constructed using this technology. Design applications include both residential housing and public buildings (e.g., hospitals). Seismic performance of the main IMS structural elements has undergone extensive experimental laboratory tests, and has also been tested in a few major earthquakes. Several buildings of this type sustained the effects of the 1968 Banja Luka earthquake without any damage.

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Filed Under: Europe, Precast Concrete, Reinforced Concrete, Serbia

Report # 66 : Precast reinforced concrete frame panel system of seria IIS-04

August 22, 2011 By

by Shamil Khakimov, Bakhtiar Nurtaev

This housing type is used in the construction of residential and public buildings in many cities throughout Uzbekistan (including the capital city Tashkent) that are located in zones with intensities between 7-9. Residential buildings of this type are generally 9 to 12 stories high, whereas public buildings of the same construction are 1 to 4 stories high. All seismic load-resisting (and also nonstructural) components, e.g., foundations, columns, girders, slabs, staircases, wall panels, etc., are manufactured in specialized plants. The materials are subsequently transported to the building site. The positive features of this construction type are (1) the ability to manufacture all building materials in an industrialized setting, and (2) the gain in efficiency inasmuch as the same building components may be used both for residential and public buildings. The key drawback is that the welded joints cause seismic vulnerability when the building is located in zones of extremely high seismic loads. These joints have shown extremely brittle behavior during earthquakes. Earthquake damage is mainly concentrated in the column joints, or in the column-to-girder joints. In some cases non-bearing walls and exterior wall panels have collapsed.

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Filed Under: Asia & Mideast, Precast Concrete, Reinforced Concrete, Uzbekistan

Report # 55 : Large reinforced concrete panel buildings (Series 122, 135 and 1-464c)

August 22, 2011 By

by Mark Klyachko, Igor Mortchikchin, Igor Nudga

Large panel buildings represent one of the most common multifamily housing construction types (apartment buildings) in the former Soviet Union. Buildings of this type range from 4 to 9 stories high. This construction practice started in the 1960s and has been followed ever since. This contribution describes three different types (series) of large panel construction, known as seria 122, seria 135, and seria 1-464c. These three types (seria) are characterized by welded panel connections. The main vertical load-bearing elements, designed to carry both gravity and lateral loads, are precast reinforced concrete panels. Typically, buildings are of a regular plan and are characterized with only one interior load-bearing wall in the longitudinal direction and several walls in the transverse direction. Floor and roof structures are also made of precast reinforced concrete panels. Both wall and floor panels are of room dimensions, and the assembly of these structures consists of setting the panels in their final position and joining them in a box-type structure by means of welded joints. The methodology of achieving panel connections in large panel construction practice has significantly improved in the last 50 years. Seria 1-464c is among the first seria of large panel construction. Initially, panel joints in seria 1-464c were achieved by welding the steel elements projecting from the panels. Later on, welded joints were replaced with the monolithic joints. Seria 1-464c is characterized by a plan typical for large panel buildings with continuous walls and a typical span (2.7 m or 3.6 m) of cross walls (Figures 3C and 3D). Seria 122 is characterized by discontinuous façade walls in the longitudinal direction (Figure 3A). Seria 135 is characterized by a larger span of cross walls (6m) as compared to the other types (see figure 3B). Due to the large wall density, these buildings are rather rigid. Seismic resistance in this construction type is generally good, as these buildings have been exposed to several strong earthquakes in the former Soviet Union.

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Filed Under: Europe, Precast Concrete, Reinforced Concrete, Russia

Report # 54 : Large concrete block walls with reinforced concrete floors and roof (typical series: 1-306c, 1-307c, 114c)

August 22, 2011 By

by Mark Klyachko, Yuriy Gordeev, Freda Kolosova

This is a typical residential construction found both in urban and rural areas. It represents a construction practice followed in the former Soviet Union. Buildings of this type constitute 15 to 30% of the housing stock in earthquake-prone areas of Russia (Far East, Siberia, Baikal Lake Region, North Caucasus) and CIS states (Central Asia, Armenia, Georgia, etc.). The main load bearing system for lateral and gravity loads consists of concrete block masonry walls and concrete floor slabs. Seismic resistance is relatively good, provided that the welded block wall connections are present and are well constructed.

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Filed Under: Europe, Precast Concrete, Reinforced Concrete, Russia, Uncategorized

Report # 39 : Reinforced concrete frame buildings without beams (seria KUB).

August 18, 2011 By

by Svetlana Uranova, Ulugbek T. Begaliev

Frame buildings without beams were introduced in the last decade of the Soviet Union (period 1980-1989) in some of the Soviet Republics: Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Caucasian region of Russia etc. This type of precast construction is known as seria KUB. This type of apartment buildings is usually 5-9 stories high; in some cases these buildings are 12 stories high. The load-bearing structure consists of precast reinforced concrete columns and slabs. Precast column elements are usually two stories high. Typically, column spans are equal to 6m. Precast slab elements are made of solid concrete without ribs, and the dimensions are: 3 m x 3 m X 0.16 m (length X width X thickness). Most buildings of this type have some kind of lateral load resisting elements, such as: cast-in-situ shear walls, or precast shear walls, or shear cross braces etc. All precast structural elements are combined in 3-D moment frame by means of a special joint system. Partitions are made of brick masonry or small concrete block masonry. This building type is considered to be very vulnerable in earthquakes. The seismic resistance of buildings of this type depends on the type of column-to-slab joints. Similar structures were damaged in the 1988 Spitak (Armenia) earthquake.

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Filed Under: Asia & Mideast, Kyrgyzstan, Precast Concrete, Reinforced Concrete

Report # 33 : Precast reinforced concrete frame building with cruciform and linear-beam elements (Series 106)

August 18, 2011 By

by Ulugbek T. Begaliev, Svetlana Uranova, V. Manukovskiy

Precast reinforced concrete frame buildings (series 106) were introduced in Kyrgyzstan around 1975. These apartment buildings are usually 9 stories high; less frequently they may be 12 stories. The fundamental period of vibrations is typically in the range of 0.65-0.85 sec. Series 106 was developed by the Kyrgyz Design Institute for construction in earthquake-prone areas. Several buildings of this type (about 15 in total) were built in the capital city Bishkek (design seismicity 8 on the MSK scale). The load-bearing structure consists of a precast reinforced concrete space frame and precast floor slabs. Partition walls are constructed using clay-brick masonry units or small concrete blocks. Buildings of this type have not yet been subjected to major earthquakes. These buildings are not considered to be highly vulnerable to earthquake effects, provided that the construction quality, particularly with reference to the joints, is satisfactory. It should be noted that precast frame buildings of a different type (Series 111) performed very poorly in the 1988 Spitak (Armenia) earthquake.

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Filed Under: Asia & Mideast, Kyrgyzstan, Precast Concrete, Reinforced Concrete