Experimental Study on Seismic Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Frames by Precast Concrete Panels

The purpose of this study is to investigate the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC)frames under cyclic loads strengthened by using precast concrete (PC) panels. The idea is to transform the existing hollow brick infills into strong and rigid infills by bonding relatively high-strength PC panels with a thin layer of epoxy mortar By this method, the seismic behavior of the frame is improved. For this purpose-one being reference-a total of 11 one-third scale, one-hay, two-story deficient RC frames were tested under reversed cyclic lateral loads. Six different panel types were used for strengthening purposes. It was observed that the strength, lateral stiffness, and energy dissipation capacity of strengthened frames were significantly improved.