Advances in Seismic Performance and Risk Estimation of Precast Concrete Buildings

The design of precast buildings during past years was typically carried out without considering the complex seismic interaction between elements, both structural and non-structural, due to the peculiar nature of precast connections and overall building behaviour. This fact was recently and dramatically shown by several earthquakes. The seismic safety of the building stock is a requirement of modern societies and remains a concern in seismic prone areas. Recently, a growing research interest has been observed on the seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) precast elements and connection systems, mainly considering current code-conforming solutions. However, the knowledge gap is far from being filled. The Engineering community is currently facing the following challenges to reduce the seismic vulnerability and risk associated with precast structures: 1) refinement and harmonization of design criteria for new buildings and new precast technologies, 2) seismic assessment and risk analysis of the existing building stock, and 3) setting and employing robust retrofit solutions. The present research topic contributes to these goals by gathering a diverse set of recent studies, which provide original papers and review articles addressing the current challenges related to the seismic performance of precast structures. A total of 10 papers authored by 29 experts of the field have been finally selected to integrate the present issue, encompassing the objectives described above. The topics addressed in the papers are from several fields across civil engineering, including: an overview of the recent advances carried out by one among the most active research groups in the field; four papers related with the different challenges in the design and in the experimental and numerical assessment of different beam-column connections, including dissipative, moment resisting, and dowel; two contributions regarding the vulnerability assessment of precast industrial buildings with cladding panels employing novel connection devices; a paper considering unbonded post-tensioned precast walls and their modelling challenges; a paper discussing the modelling assumptions and its influence in the seismic risk assessment of industrial precast structures; a paper dealing with the effectiveness of retrofitting solutions for post-earthquake interventions in industrial precast buildings.