A Study on the Behavior of Precast Concrete Beam-Column Joints with Steel Slit Dampers

This paper proposes an innovative precast concrete (PC) beam-column joints using prestressed steels and external steel slit dampers (SSDs), which can be easily repaired after an earthquake. The SSD installed under beam ends were steel plates that were cut to the required shape to control yielding for energy dissipation. The seismic behavior of three exterior beam-column joint specimens was investigated through a series of quasi-static reversed cyclicloading tests, including the PC beam-column joint with SSD and the PC beam-column joint using unbonded prestressing steels with SSD, and compared to monolithic PC structures previously studied in the literature. The results showed that using unbonded prestressing steels with SSD increased initial stiffness and lateral load capacity by 16.40% and 32.09%, respectively, compared withthat of monolithic PC structures. Additionally, structure has a satisfactory self-centering capability.