An Experimental Study on the Flexural Behavior of Precast Concrete Modular Beam Systems Using Inserted Steel Plates

Abstract

Recently, interest in using precast concrete (PC) modules has increased due to their better seismic performance than steel modules. However, they must be joined by additional elements to ensure structural integration between the modules. The essential aim of the precast concrete module is to ensure structural performance with appropriate connection methods. However, the technical problem of connecting PC modules still needs to be improved. This study proposed a PC modular beam system for improved structural and splicing performance, and simple construction. This modular system consisted of modules with steel plates inserted to improve integrity of modules, ease of construction, and low cost. The structural performance of the proposed PC modular beam system was evaluated by flexural test on one reinforced concrete (RC) beam specimen consisting of a monolithic beam, and two PC specimens with the proposed modular system. The results demonstrated that the proposed PC modular beam system achieved approximately 80% of the structural performance compared to the monolithic specimen, with approximately 1.3-fold greater ductility.

Structural Performance of a Precast Concrete Modular Beam Using Bolted Connecting Plates

“…These results show good agreement with previous studies, which demonstrated that PC modular members performed at 70-85% of the capacity of general RC monolithic members [38,39]. In addition, the flexural test results were compared to the previous study [20] that proposed the L-shaped PC module and connecting plate. The proposed method of this study had 1.1 times the flexural capacity compared to that of the previous study [20].…”

“…This study proposed a PC modular beam system using bolted connecting plates to improve the constructability of PC modular beams as shown in Figure 2. In a previous study [20], an L-shaped PC module with bolted connecting plate was proposed considering the role of a shear key in the PC module. However, construction difficulties were observed.…”

“…To improve constructability, a new connection detail was proposed in this study. The PC module has a linear-shape to improve dealing with grouting problems that occurred in a previous study [20]. The proposed method is to connect the connecting plates protruding from each module and connect them using bolts.…”

“…One of the primary issues for PC beams is how to resist shear forces rather than flexural capacity since PC is used in structures with a large cross-section in general. Therefore, while only the flexural test was conducted in the previous study [20], this study also investigated shear behavior. This paper considered that the splicing performance of the proposed method was sufficient if the PC modular beams showed a similar structural performance to that of a monolithic RC beam.…”

“…In addition, the flexural test results were compared to the previous study [20] that proposed the Lshaped PC module and connecting plate. The proposed method of this study had 1.1 times the flexural capacity compared to that of the previous study [20]. This can be attributed to the aspect that the proposed PC modular beam in this study was a linear-shaped module, so the gap between the PC modules could be completely filled with non-shrink mortar, unlike in the previous study [20].…”