Title: Response of Full-Scale Three-Story Flat-Plate Test Structure to Cycles of Increasing Lateral Load

Author(s): Damon R. Fick, Mete A. Sozen, and Michael E. Kreger

Publication: Structural Journal

Volume: 114

Issue: 6

Appears on pages(s): 1507-1517

Keywords: cyclic loading; drift limits; flat plate; full scale; punching shear; slab-column connections

DOI: 10.14359/51689502

Date: 11/1/2017

Abstract:
Flat plates were designed and built in the early twentieth century without sensitivity to earthquake demands. The test reported was made to study the lateral stiffness, strength, and drift limit in one direction of a three-story, two-bay, full-scale reinforced concrete flat-plate building proportioned to resist gravity loading only. The focus of the experiment was on three issues: 1) the vulnerability of the slab-column connections; 2) lateral stiffness and drift capacity of the flat plate; and 3) implications of the observed response for earthquake resistance of similar structures of which response is not influenced by nonstructural elements. Measured drifts at the three levels of loading were estimated to within ±15% using four types of linear analyses, all based on simple estimates of stiffness reduction. Results of the investigation indicate similar structures could survive strong ground motions with peak ground velocities reaching 600 mm/s (24 in./s).