Shaking table test of full-scale brick veneer house

Many of existing reinforced concrete (RC) frames which designed according to old seismic codes or for gravity loads has insufficient lateral load-carrying capacity and limited ductility. All of these RC frames can be defined as nonductile RC frames, and needs to be strengthened for reducing the risk of severe damage or even collapses in the future strong earthquakes. To date, the use of externally bonded fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) composites wraps is an effective means for rehabilitation and seismic retrofit of RC structures. To investigate and evaluate the seismic performance of nonductile RC frames retrofitted using FRP, the shaking table test of two 1/2 scale 4-storey and 2-bay bare and strengthened nonductile RC frames was conducted. The strengthened frame was retrofitted at the joint regions of first and second storey, due to the test results of bare frame shows that only joint regions of the lower two storeys were seriously damaged. The variation of failure mode, seismic response and performance between bare and FRP-retrofitted frame, and the development process from initial damage to failure of structures under different earthquake levels was discussed based on the experimental results. The results show that the seismic performance of retrofitted RC frame is significantly enhanced in comparison with the bare frame. Bare frame failed when the applied peak ground acceleration (PGA) equal to 0.6g, while the retrofitted frame has little damage after applied PGA larger than 1.0g. It also found that the structural horizontal displacement and inter-storey drift ratio of retrofitted frame was much smaller than bare frame at the same earthquake level.