Title:
Seismic Performance of Precast Concrete Full-Scale Wide Beam-Column Connections with Emulative Detailing (Prepublished)
Author(s):
Seon-Hoon Kim, Deuckhang Lee, Wei Zhang, and Thomas H.-K. Kang
Publication:
Structural Journal
Volume:
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
Keywords:
effective beam width; emulative detailing; precast concrete; seismic performance; strong connection; wide beam
DOI:
10.14359/51749377
Date:
12/8/2025
Abstract:
Precast concrete (PC) moment-resisting frame systems with wide beam sections have been increasingly adopted in the construction industry due to their advantages in reducing the span length of PC slabs perpendicular to wide beam members and improving the constructability of precast construction. To further facilitate fast-built construction, this study introduces a novel PC wide beam-column connection system, where the solid panel zone is prefabricated and integrated into the PC column, allowing the upper floor to be quickly constructed without delay due to the curing time of cast-in-place concrete. Meanwhile, the current ACI CODE-318-19 code imposes strict allowable limits on the width of wide beams and complex reinforcement details as part of a seismic force-resisting system to effectively transfer forces into the joint, considering the shear lag effect. To address this, two full-scale PC wide beam-column test specimens were carefully designed, fabricated, and tested to explore the impact of large beam width and simplified reinforcement details beyond the code limit. The seismic performance was evaluated in terms of lateral strength, deformation capacity, stiffness degradation, failure mechanism, and energy dissipation. Based on the evaluation, the proposed PC wide beam-column connections demonstrated equivalent, or even better, seismic performance than the reinforced concrete control specimen. Additionally, it was found that the presence of corbels can mitigate the shear lag effect in PC wide beam-column connections, and that the current effective beam width limit imposed by ACI CODE-318-19 is conservative for PC wide beam-column connections with corbels.