4350c6cc 6

November–December 2023
volume 68, Number 6
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute
Innovation
24 46 65
Enhancing Age-dependent A novel
the energy SCM properties reinforced
dissipation affecting precast concrete buckling-
capacity of concrete restrained brace
rocking systems production
“Hamilton Form Company has been our go-to supplier
for quality, steel-built forms.
At Coreslab Structures, we engage Hamilton Form at the

early stages of design and collaborate with them on the
shape, length and versatility of the casting molds.
That level of collaboration has led to the successful
completion of many projects over the years.”
Rick Reichenberg
V.P., General Manager
Coreslab Structures (ARIZ)
Nobody Does It Better

When Coreslab Structures (ARIZ) needed Hamilton’s double tee forms were used in the
custom forms for the Compass Moonraker Data creation of the structures to achieve long, clear
Center in Goodyear, Arizona, they called on the spans that support the heavy weight of the
one company they knew could get the job done equipment and cooling systems. The Compass
– Hamilton Form Company. Moonraker data center features over 242MW of
capacity on a 190-acre campus.
Nobody does it better, together –

Coreslab Structures (ARIZ) and Hamilton Form.
For more than 55 years -

Precast. It’s all we do.
Hamilton Form Company

Custom forms
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sales@hamiltonform.com
817-590-2111
The Team!
A Great Connection for
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847-675-1560 • 1-800-742-8127 • www.jvi-inc.com
Table of Contents
Innovation
Experimental and Numerical Study of a Motion Amplification 24
Mechanism to Enhance the Seismic Energy-Dissipation Capacity
of Precast, Post-tensioned Concrete Rocking Systems
Ahmet Ata Kulaksizoglu, Cetin Yilmaz, and Cem Yalcin
24 Review of Supplementary Cementitious Materials with Implications 46

for Age-Dependent Concrete Properties Affecting Precast
Clamping plates
Concrete Production
Zoe N. Lallas, Matthew J. Gombeda, and Flavia Mendonca
S N
Out-of-plane
bracing
Actuator
Specimen
Experimental Investigation of a Novel Reinforced Concrete 65

Pin-based
steel column
Buckling-Restrained Brace
Shane Oh, Lily Polster, Mark Manning, Jon Mohle, Brad D. Weldon, and Yahya C. Kurama
65
Index of advertisers
ALP Supply.............................. Back Cover PCI............................................................ 11, 96
www.alpsupply.com www.pci.org
CONAC........................................................... 6 Prestress Supply Inc. .............................. 10
www.conacweb.com www.prestresssupply.com
Hamilton Form .........Inside Front Cover Splice Sleeve.............. Inside Back Cover
www.hamiltonform.com www.splicesleeve.com
JVI ..................................................................... 1 Tuckers........................................................... 4
www.jvi-inc.com www.tuckerbilt.com
2
November–December 2023 • volume 68, Number 6
NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2023
VOLUME 68, NUMBER 6
Departments
On the cover
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute
Chairman’s Message 5
The new office facility in
the Sioux Falls, S.Dak., 2023 Summer Tour
riverfront Steel District was
built using precast ultra- Innovation
President’s Message 7
high-performance concrete Tampa terrific
(UHPC) beams, making it
the first office building in
the nation to use UHPC in
24
Enhancing
the energy
dissipation
46
Age-dependent
SCM properties
65
A novel
reinforced
affecting precast concrete buckling-
From PCI Headquarters 8
capacity of concrete restrained brace
rocking systems production
this way. Courtesy of Lloyd

Companies. PCI Calendar 8
Our Members 12
In the News 17
Industry Calendar 17
Project Spotlight 18
Research Corner 20
PCI Directories 92
Board of Directors and
Technical Activities Council 92
PCI Staff Directory 93
Regional Offices 94
JOURNAL EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Coming Ahead 94
Chair Sri Sritharan Amir Fam Stephen J. Seguirant
Vice Chair Adel ElSafty Alexander G. Mihaylov Chungwook Sim Meet Lee Lawrence 95
Secretary Collin Moriarty Richard A. Miller
Staff Liaison Tom Klemens Pinar Okumus
EDITORIAL DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Tom Klemens Editor-in-Chief Lisa Scacco Publications Manager PCI Journal (ISSN 0887-9672) is published bimonthly by the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr
Ave., Chicago, IL 60631. Copyright © 2023, Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute. The Precast/Prestressed Concrete
K. Michelle Burgess Managing Editor Walt Furie Senior Production Specialist
Institute is not responsible for statements made by authors of papers or claims made by advertisers in PCI Journal. Original
Courtney McCormick Technical Editor manuscripts and letters on published papers are accepted on review by the PCI Technical Review Committee. No payment is
Angela Mueller Technical Editor ADVERTISING SALES offered. Direct all correspondence to PCI Journal at journal@pci.org or Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, c/o PCI Journal,
8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60631. For information on advertising rates, send an email to adsales@
Carrie Wyrick Technical Editor Beth Taylor Chief Financial and
pci.org. Subscription rates are $80 per year and $200 for three years in the United States, $170 per year and $470 for three
Rory Cleveland Copy Editor Administration Officer
years for international, and $80 per year and $200 for three years for electronic-only subscriptions anywhere in the world. A
Elizabeth Nishiura Copy Editor single or back issue is $15. International subscriptions are delivered by an international carrier; allow one to three weeks.
Laura Vidale Copy Editor Postmaster: Please send address changes to PCI Journal, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60631.
Laura Bedolla Technical Activities Program Manager Periodicals postage rates paid at Chicago and additional mailing offices.
This paper is milled from a 3rd-party certified source
PCI Journal | November–December 2023

3
Chairman’s Message
2023 summer tour

W hen you are the chair of PCI, you have the opportunity to
see many of the regional chapter meetings. This gives you
an interesting perspective on the priorities of each regional area.
It also gives you a high level of respect for the supplier mem-
bers who travel to those meetings on a regular basis. This is no
small commitment.
Guest speakers on cutting-edge topics, new products, and current
marketing endeavors were what I expected to see. Those were all
there, but the most impressive quality I witnessed was the commit-
ment to family in some of the chapters. This wasn’t just an event
with producer members and suppliers. It was abundantly apparent
that spouses and children had been attending these events for some
time, knew each other quite well, and were very happy to see each
other.
It was a pleasure spending time and learning from such close-knit
groups. Thank you for being such kind hosts this summer. J
Matt Ballain
2023 PCI Board Chair
Vice President and General Manager
Coreslab Structures (INDIANAPOLIS) Inc.
Indianapolis, Ind.
PCI Journal | November–December 2023 5

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President’s Message
Tampa terrific
T he verdict is in! The decision to hold Committee Days somewhere other than Chicago
turned out to be a fantastic success! Many thanks to the 627 registrants who joined us
October 4 through 7 in Tampa, Fla., up from 577 in Rosemont, Ill., last year. I received many
compliments on the hotel and location from PCI members who attended, and several suggested
we should return in the future. Many thanks to the PCI staff for all their hard work in produc-
ing a wonderful event and to the many committee chairs and members who donated their time
and energy to the work of PCI.
The highlight of the week was the incredible concert put on by The Concrete!, the band led
by A. J. Ishikawa of Splice Sleeve to benefit the PCI Foundation. Splice Sleeve coordinated the
evening with some special guest appearances on stage and also provided merch to benefit the PCI
Foundation. Thanks to the nearly 300 PCI members who attended the event. It was an evening
of fun and energy we will never forget. All told, the event raised more than $25,000 to benefit
the wonderful programs of the PCI Foundation.
Committee Days also had some new faces and roles in the PCI family. We welcome Jacques
Cattan as the new managing director of quality programs for PCI. Cattan is a structural engineer
with much experience in certification programs in the construction industry, having led the cer-
tification programs at the American Institute of Steel Construction for many years. He will be
replacing Mike Kesselmayer who will be retiring at the end of the year.
Also joining our meeting was the new executive director of Georgia/Carolinas PCI, Marti
Harrell. Harrell is no stranger to precast concrete or to the PCI staff. She comes to the position
having served at the National Precast Concrete Association for more than 22 years where she
also oversaw the NPCA Foundation. Welcome to the PCI family, Marti and Jacques!
Finally, we welcome a familiar face in Ray Clark to his new role as executive director of the
PCI Foundation. We look forward to working with Clark to further strengthen our relationship
and partnership with the PCI Foundation as together we work with the next generation of stu-
dents and faculty to familiarize them with precast and prestressed concrete.
It was a great event, and I want to thank everyone who helped make it a success, including the
past PCI Board of Directors, which decided to take the show on the road. I hope you can join us
next year in Nashville, Tenn. I’m not sure we will top Tampa, but we’ll try! J
Bob Risser, PE
PCI President and CEO

From PCI Headquarters
Georgia/Carolinas PCI names tification and education. Harrell has a bachelor of science degree
from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana
Harrell new executive director University in Bloomington, Ind.
Harrell replaces Ray Clark, who headed the chapter since
G eorgia/Carolinas PCI has named

Marti Harrell its new executive direc-
tor. The chapter oversees marketing and
2021. Clark is the new executive director of the PCI Foundation.
educational efforts to grow the precast, PCI names Cattan quality

prestressed concrete industry in Georgia,
North Carolina, and South Carolina. It is programs managing director
one of 11 regional PCI chapters throughout
the United States.
Before joining the PCI Georgia/Carolinas
Marti Harrell
PCI chapter, Harrell held many positions at the National

P CI welcomes Jacques Cattan as its new
managing director of quality programs.
Cattan will oversee PCI’s quality programs,
Precast Concrete Association (NPCA), where she worked for including certification activities for precast
19 years. During her career at NPCA she was vice president and precast, prestressed concrete plants,
of membership, education workforce, and outreach; executive erectors, and personnel.
director of the NPCA Foundation; vice president of technical Before joining PCI, Cattan was design-
services and professional development; and director of plant cer- build director at F. H. Paschen, a large Jacques Cattan
PCI’s Calendar
Events
PCI event details are subject to change. For the most current information, visit
https://www.pci.org/events.
PCI Gulf South 2023 Winter Meeting
November 7–8, 2023
Biloxi, Miss.
PCI West 2024 Annual Board Meeting
January 24, 2024
World of Concrete, Las Vegas, Nev.
Florida Prestressed Concrete Association Winter Meeting
January 30–31, 2024
Orlando, Fla.
2024 PCI Convention at The Precast Show
February 6–10, 2024
Denver, Colo.
2024 PCI Productivity Tour
April 30–May 2, 2024
King of Prussia, Pa.
PCI West 2024 Summer Board Meeting
May 22, 2024
Woodland, Calif.
2024 PCI Board of Directors Meeting
June 4-6, 2024
Jackson Hole, Wyo.
2024 PCI Committee Days Conference
September 23–27, 2024
Nashville, Tenn.
2025 PCI Convention at The Precast Show
February 3–7, 2025
Indianapolis, Ind.
8 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

general contractor, construction manager, and design build- Cattan has bachelor of science degrees from the Illinois
er in Chicago. He was responsible for design management Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago and the Missouri
activities, virtual design, and building information modeling University of Science and Technology in Rolla. He also has a
activities. He was also a member of the company’s Quality master of science degree in civil engineering (structural) from
Control Committee. Prior to F. H. Paschen, Cattan had two IIT.
stints with the American Institute of Steel Construction, most Cattan takes over for Mike Kesselmayer, who is retiring
recently as vice president responsible for certification. from the same position at the end of 2023.
Pioneering innovation in precast concrete education

The PCI Foundation has been the U.S. Department of Education, Fulbright Pro-
a trailblazer in precast concrete gram, and other grants.
education by driving innovation The PCI Foundation acts as a catalyst for col-
and excellence in this vital sector of laboration within the precast concrete industry. It
the construction industry. Through brings together industry experts, educators, and
its partnerships with academia students, fostering an environment where ideas
via scholarships, studio programs, are shared freely. This collaborative spirit has led to
research funding, and industry Greg Force the development of novel solutions to longstand-
collaboration, the foundation has PCI Foundation ing challenges in the industry. Whether it’s finding
Chair
transformed the way students are more sustainable materials or improving construc-
educated and prepared for careers in tion processes, the PCI Foundation’s emphasis on
precast concrete. By embracing sustainability, tech- collaboration has been a driving force for finding
nology, and a commitment to industry-driven cur- new and better solutions. The PCI Foundation
riculum development, the PCI Foundation ensures has provided many opportunities to those in our
that the future of precast concrete remains bright, industry, from producers to engineers to suppliers,
innovative, and sustainable. In a rapidly evolving by stepping into the classroom and collaborating
world, the PCI Foundation stands as a beacon of directly with professors and students.
progress and innovation, inspiring the next genera- Another aspect of the PCI Foundation’s for-
tion of leaders in the precast concrete industry. ward-looking precast concrete education is
The PCI Foundation has been instrumental its commitment to industry-driven curriculum
in establishing precast concrete design studio development. Through close collaboration with
programs at various universities. These studios industry leaders, the PCI Foundation ensures that
provide students with hands-on experience in the education provided is in sync with the latest
designing and working with precast concrete. By trends and technologies in the precast concrete
simulating real-world construction scenarios, stu- sector. This responsiveness to industry needs
dents learn the practical aspects of precast con- equips students with the skills and knowledge
crete production and installation. This immersive required to excel in their careers from day one.
learning experience is a significant departure from The studio approach means that the industry
traditional classroom education and has been a is helping drive the curriculum for a particular
game changer in preparing future professionals school by working with the faculty and setting
for the industry. the agenda ahead of the school year and ensur-
PCI Foundation’s new approach to these pro- ing that our needs for an educated customer and
grams in not only presenting the topic of precast workforce are being met.
concrete to engineering schools but also working In the digital age, technology is the driving
with schools of architecture and construction force for bringing change to all industries, includ-
management has been an eye-opening approach ing construction. The PCI Foundation understands
for our industry, as well as for those with whom this and actively promotes the integration of
we’ve worked. technology into precast concrete education. This
Although research is not funded directly includes the use of building information modeling,
through the PCI Foundation, the PCI Foundation ultra-high-strength concrete, three-dimensional
Board of Trustees encourages professors working printing, advanced manufacturing techniques, and
with our industry to look at opportunities through automation. By preparing students to harness the
PCI and governmental funding agencies to create power of technology, the foundation ensures that
innovative research and development efforts. Pro- the industry remains at the forefront of building
fessors have used their grants as a springboard and transportation systems by its ongoing em-
to work with state departments of transportation, phasis on innovation.

Fatigue performance of double-tee flanges request for proposals
The PCI Research and Development Council is ments. The prime objective is to investigate the
soliciting proposals to investigate the fatigue per- fatigue performance and load distribution of dou-
formance of double-tee flanges. The request for ble tee flanges subjected to concentrated loads.
proposals (RFP) at https://www.pci.org/PCI_Docs Proposals must be submitted to technical@pci.
/Design_Resources/Research_and_Development org by 4 p.m. central time on December 15, 2023.
/RFP-Fatigue-of-DT-Flanges.pdf, includes a Questions regarding the project may also be sent
description of the project and proposal require- to technical@pci.org.
PCI personnel training and certification schools

Quality Control School event details are subject to change. If you have any questions about the Quality Control School sched-
ule or need help completing a registration form, please contact PCI’s continuing education coordinator, education@pci.org.
Registration forms are available at https://www.pci.org/qc_schools.
Levels I and II November 13–16, 2023 online
Level III December 11–14, 2023 online
Certified Field Auditor September 11–14, 2023 online
Compiled by K. Michelle Burgess (mburgess@pci.org) J

FEBRUARY 6 – 9
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT PCI.ORG OR CONTACT EVENTS@PCI.ORG.

Our Members
Wells names Stenzel CarbonCure Technologies

vice president of facades gains AASHTO compliance
W ells has promoted Dan Stenzel to vice president of

facades. Under Stenzel’s leadership, the Wells facade
team provides architectural design assistance and preconstruc-
C arbonCure Technologies’ ready-mixed concrete made
with CarbonCure has been deemed compliant with the
standards of the American Association of State Highway and
tion support for all building envelope project needs. Stenzel is Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as an admixture for con-
responsible for collaborating with industry partners to imple- crete.
ment new facade designs that are changing the way the build- This evaluation of CarbonCure concrete was performed by
ing envelope is designed and constructed. SGS TEC Services—an independent, accredited laboratory in
The facades team supports Wells’ building facade solutions, Lawrenceville, Ga.—following the unique, patented, propri-
expanding its scope by providing market-segment-specific solu- etary products testing protocol managed under the auspices
tions. One of the featured facades building solutions, Infinite of AASHTO’s Product Evaluation & Audit Solutions. The
Facade, is a unitized prefabricated building envelope system, concrete batching took place at Thomas Concrete’s facility in
manufactured off-site and comprising architectural facade fea- Doraville, Ga., and the AASHTO testing program focused on
tures, windows, spray foam, drywall ready accessories and joint the effect of injecting carbon dioxide into concrete.
treatments. Concrete properties of three control mixtures and three
Stenzel has been with Wells for 11 years. His combined CarbonCure mixtures were tested in accordance with
background in preconstruction, estimating, sales, research and AASHTO M194 (ASTM C494) by the independent labora-
development, and project management gives him the skill set tory, evaluating slump, temperature, density, yield, air content,
needed to convert design concepts to complete facade building compressive strength, flexural strength, and resistance to rapid
solutions and set the strategy for the team. freezing and thawing. In short, the CarbonCure mixtures per-
—Source: Wells formed similarly to the control mixtures and met or exceeded
the job requirements specified by AASHTO. Additional dura-
bility testing also showed no negative impact on hardened con-
Fabcon Precast crete properties and confirmed the efficacy of CarbonCure in
meeting and, in some instances, exceeding industry standards.
acquires Bristol Precast Five state departments of transportation have added
CarbonCure to their approved product lists, including
F abcon Precast, based in Minneapolis, Minn., has acquired

Bristol Precast, a division of The Bristol Group.
The Bristol Group is a design-build commercial construc-
Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
The compressive strength gain resulting from CarbonCure’s
carbon mineralization solution has enabled a more efficient
tion firm and manufacturer of precast concrete wall panels and use of cement by CarbonCure’s growing global network of
other structural products, serving customers in the industrial, industry partners. This results in a more sustainable concrete
multifamily, hospitality, commercial, corrections, and parking product that meets the surging demand for greener building
structure markets. Bristol Precast provides engineered precast materials from both the government and the private sector.
and prestressed concrete products throughout Kentucky, —Source: CarbonCure
Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, and West Virginia. The
purchase includes all aspects of the Bristol Precast business.
—Source: Fabcon Precast

Paul Zia
Paul Zia, a PCI Titan, died August da Department of Transportation decided to put
16, 2023. He was 97. two similar bridge designs out for bid, one using
In a Fall 2012 PCI Journal inter- prestressed concrete and the other a traditional
view, Zia said that when he came design, to demonstrate how much more economi-
to the United States from China as cal the prestressed concrete design could be. The
a young man, he imagined it would savings were substantial. The industry took off in
be just a short stopover until the the years following, and by the late 1950s, LEAP
politics in his home country settled Paul Zia had developed 20 products that were available to
down. One thing led to another, and producers with standard design details worked out
Zia stayed in the United States, where he built a in handbook form, including the LEAP Tee, which is
family and a career and helped launch the precast now known as the double tee. In 1954, five com-
concrete industry. panies involved in the precast concrete industry in
Zia went to secondary school and university in Florida launched PCI, an effort helped by Edwards
China. When the Communists took over in 1949, the and Zia, who became two of PCI’s earliest profes-
year he graduated, he headed to the United States sional members.
to pursue further studies while biding his time. Zia A year later he returned to the University of
had always been interested in prestressed concrete. Florida as an instructor, where he researched pre-
He noted that many projects were completed using stressed and precast concrete applications while
the material in Europe during World War II, “but in pursuing his PhD in structural engineering. He also
the U.S., no one was engaged in it, and there was began writing papers for what would eventually
very little prior experience,” he said. become PCI Journal. After receiving his doctorate
In 1951, he was offered a summer job at Lake- from the University of Florida in 1961, he took a po-
land Engineering Associates in Lakeland, Fla. It was sition as a professor in the civil engineering depart-
there that he first began studying applications for ment at North Carolina State University, where he
prestressed concrete under the direction of Harry taught prestressed concrete and other courses for
Edwards—one of the founders of PCI and the name- 35 years until his retirement in 1996. After retiring,
sake of the association’s Harry H. Edwards Design he continued to perform research and advise grad-
Award for Outstanding Achievement. uate students at the university.
Following that summer job, Zia earned his At NCSU’s Department of Civil, Construction, and
master’s degree at the University of Washington in Environmental Engineering, Zia specialized in the
Seattle; then he returned to Lakeland in 1953. study of concrete materials. A Distinguished Univer-
Before there were even plants to manufacture sity Professor Emeritus at the time of his death, Zia’s
precast, prestressed concrete, he and Edwards research and teaching earned him numerous awards
spent their off-hours designing projects using the and recognitions throughout his career, including
material. Soon after, they decided it was time to election to the National Academy of Engineering
push the industry forward. Edwards, Zia, and their in 1983. He was a consulting engineer on the 1999
partners launched Lakeland Engineering Associates move of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, for which he
Prestressing (LEAP) and persuaded several produc- received the National Park Service Citizen’s Award
ers in Florida to build prestressed concrete plants. for Exceptional Service. Zia was also an honorary
Then, to prove the benefits of prestressed concrete, member of the American Society of Civil Engineers
the chief bridge engineer, Bill Dean, of the Flori- as well as the American Concrete Institute.

Christensen named Canada, Euclid Chemical opens new
U.S. Master Builders president admixture plant in Calgary
B ruce Christensen has been named president of Master

Builders Solutions in the United States and Canada.
He succeeds Brian Denys, who was the former president of
E uclid Chemica has opened a new admixture plant in
Calgary, AB, Canada. Positioned in a prime location with
access to nearby railways and major transportation routes, this
MBCC Group Americas. newly established facility ensures quick and efficient product
Christensen has spent 30 years working in various func- delivery throughout the area.
tions within the company in North America, Asia, and The newly operational facility is equipped with the latest
Europe. He most recently held the role of senior vice president equipment and technology, including advanced mixing and
of business management, where he led the commercial side of batching systems that provide accurate and consistent dosing
the admixtures business. of admixture ingredients.
Christensen holds bachelor’s degrees in both chemical —Source: Euclid Chemical
engineering and materials science and engineering from the
University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In addition, he
has a PhD in materials and engineering from Northwestern
University in Evanston, Ill., where he studied portland cement
chemistry and concrete technology.
—Source: Master Builders Solutions Admixtures US LLC
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Vilas Mujumdar
Vilas S. Mujumdar, PE, FPCI, FSEI, didn’t win, but the firm went on to produce precast
Dist M ASCE, died March 23, 2023. concrete single and double tees and other precast
He was 81. concrete elements for the construction industry.
Vilas Mujumdar grew up in In- Mujumdar stayed in the United States for the rest
dore, India, where completed high of his career. Over the decades he designed numer-
school at 14 and broke records with ous structures in precast concrete, nationally and
his math scores in college. In an internationally, and held roles as CEO, president,
interview in the September–October Vilas Mujumdar and partner in many large engineering firms; he was
2020 issue of PCI Journal, Mujumdar named chief of operations for the Division of the
said, “It was what I wanted to do with my life, teach State Architect for the State of California; and he
math,” he says. It wasn’t a common path in those was the natural hazards director for the Engineering
days and no one of his family had a math back- Research Center program at the National Science
ground, but in the early 1960s, engineering was a Foundation (NSF).
very lucrative profession. “All my friends were doing Mujumdar also received many awards, including
civil engineering, so I did it too.” the Medal for Excellence in Engineering from the
Mujumdar completed his master’s degree at the World Federation of Engineering Societies in 2019,
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, at the age the Kenneth Andrew Roe Award from the American
of 21. He said he imagined that he would spend his Association of Engineering Societies in 2016 for
career building massive bridges, dams, and canals effectively promoting unity among the engineering
in his fast-growing home country, and his first job societies, the NSF Director’s Award for Collabora-
was with a design-build company in New Delhi, tion Integration in 2009, and the NSF Outstanding
where he spent three years designing and building Public Service Award in 2008. In 1999, he received
long-span bridges in prestressed concrete. He then special recognition from California’s governor “for
landed a job in the United Kingdom with Donovan making a significant contribution to enhancing
Lee, inventor of the Stressteel system. He sat for seismic safety” in the state. Mujumdar joined PCI in
the 16-hour exam to join the Institution of Structur- 1966 while still working in Canada.
al Engineers and was excited to learn that he had Over the years he has served on many commit-
passed, but in the end he wasn’t allowed to join be- tees, including one of the first Blue Ribbon Review
cause he was only 24, one year shy of the minimum Committees for the PCI Design Handbook: Pre-
age. cast and Prestressed Concrete. He sat on the PCI
Fed up with the bureaucracy in the United Seismic Committee and the ACI Concrete Research
Kingdom, Mujumdar left London for Canada and Council. He also chaired the ACI International Publi-
landed a job in Montreal with a precast concrete cations and Precast Concrete Committees. Mujum-
manufacturer responsible for constructing Habitat dar retired in 2009 but continued to do consulting
67, the first total–precast concrete housing complex work and teaching to improve the resilience and
designed by Moshe Safdie. The project won many sustainability of new structures, trends he saw as
awards and became a historical landmark. the future of precast concrete.
Shortly after the project was finished in 1967, Mujumdar’s reputation led to an ASCE award
the economy in Montreal sank, so Mujumdar made named for him last year. The Vilas Mujumdar Re-
his way to the United States, where he worked for silience Award was established to recognize ASCE
Modular Constructors Inc. as the general manager members whose achievements have advanced
and submitted a proposal for the Operation Break- resilience, specifically the mitigation of potential
through competition hosted by the Department of adverse effects due to natural hazards, climate
Housing and Urban Development to encourage in- change, or other environmental hazards in interde-
novation in creating mass-produced housing. They pendent civil infrastructure systems.

Robin Hendricks
Robin Hendricks, a former PCI Lab. Over his 15-year career at Lehigh, Hendricks
member and research scientist with became a valued and respected member of the
Lehigh’s Advanced Technology for civil and structural engineering community, con-
Large Structural Systems (ATLSS) ducting research, serving as industrial testing
Engineering Research Center, died supervisor at Fritz Engineering Laboratory, and
August 5, 2023. He was 38. pursuing graduate studies. He also coauthored
In 2008, Hendricks earned his research papers on topics such as composite steel
BS in physics from Kutztown Uni- Robin Hendricks bridges and precast concrete panel connections.
versity in Kutztown, Pa., and shortly Hendricks, along with Clay Naito, and Andrew
after graduating joined Lehigh as a research sci- Osborn, received the Martin P. Korn Award for the
entist in structural engineering. He started part- two-part paper “Flange-to-Flange Double-Tee
time graduate study with Lehigh’s Department Connections Subjected to Vehicular Loading, Part
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, earning 1: Numerical Assessment Approach” and “Flange-
his master’s degree in 2017. After completing his to-Flange Double-Tee Connections Subjected to
master’s degree, Hendricks continued his ad- Vehicular Loading, Part 2: Fatigue Life Assessment”
vanced studies in structural engineering through in the July–August 2018 and March–April 2019 is-
doctoral research in areas such as the mechanics sues of PCI Journal, respectively. The Martin P. Korn
and modeling of steel connections and proba- Award is given to the best design or research paper
bilistic modeling. Paolo Bocchini, a professor of appearing in PCI Journal during a single year. The
civil and environmental engineering, served as his paper was based on his masters research, a project
advisor. that involved developing an approach for assessing
In 2013, he took on responsibility for all indus- the service life of connections used in construction
try-sponsored structural testing projects in Fritz of parking structures.
PCI’s newly certified plants and erectors

PCI recently certified the following plants and erectors. For an explanation of the certification desig-
nations, visit http://www.pci.org/Erector_Certification and http://www.pci.org/Plant_Certification.
• Brooks Construction LLC in Valley Grande, Ala.: A, S2
• Lindsay Precast in Canal Fulton, Ohio: C3
• Nelson Precast in Baltimore, Md.: AC, C1
• Tenflex Corp. in Gardiner, N.Y.: G

In The News
Pankow releases assembly more consistent, reliable, and economic design load for office
gathering spaces in buildings. These results provide the theoret-
live load consistency report ical and practical basis for design live loads for gathering spaces
within offices, a step toward possible enactment in the current
The Charles Pankow Foundation, in partnership with standard and subsequent adoption into the International
Magnusson Klemencic Associates, the Portland Cement Building Code and materials standards.
Association Education Foundation, and the American Society of Following a review of historical load surveys and theoretical
Civil Engineers (ASCE) 7-22 Subcommittee on Dead and Live models, the paper presents models and observations of crowd-
Loads, has published the new research report Assembly Live Load ing, serving as a basis for a different approach for such areas,
Consistency for Buildings: Gateway to Reducing Embedded Energy, including a Delphi among leading design firms in the United
which is available for free download from the ASCE Library. States. The paper concludes with recommendations for a new
Since the 1800s, there have been live load surveys and anal- live load use category for gathering spaces for offices.
yses carried out, particularly of area-dependent loads in office The peer-reviewed report can be found at http://www
buildings. Although some occupancies have received careful .pankowfoundation.org/site/assets/files/2329/design_live
examination, there has been no systematic review and consid- _loads_for_office_gathering_spaces_-corotis-_hooper_and
eration of reliability-based scenarios for office gathering space _klemencic.pdf.
live loads. The results of the research reported here support a —Source: Charles Pankow Foundation
Industry Calendar
Event details are subject to change.
AASHTO Annual Meeting
J. W. Marriott Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Ind.
ASBI 35th Annual Convention
Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa, Tucson, Ariz.
World of Concrete
January 22–25, 2024
Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev.
ACI Concrete Convention
March 24–28, 2024
Hyatt Regency New Orleans, New Orleans, La.
PTI Convention
April 14–17, 2024
Indianapolis, Ind.
ACI/RILEM International Conference on Cementitious Materials
and Alternative Binders for Sustainable Concrete June 23–26, 2004
Toulouse, France
fib International Conference on Concrete Sustainability
September 11–13, 2024
Guimarães, Portugal
PTI 2024 Committee Days
October 1–4, 2024
Cancun, Mexico
ASBI 36th Annual Convention
October 20–23, 2024
Loews Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, Ga.
ACI Concrete Convention
Marriott Philadelphia Downtown, Philadelphia, Pa.

Project Spotlight
UHPC used in first-in-nation

application in South Dakota
T he Steel District is a new riverfront destination designed

for Sioux Falls, S.Dak., residents and guests. It features
select retail, entertainment, and hospitality catering to the life-
styles of the visitors.
What is unique about the office facility in the Steel District
is that it is built using precast ultra-high-performance concrete
(UHPC) beams, provided by Gage Brothers of Sioux Falls,
making it the first office building in the nation to use UHPC
in this way.
UHPC is composed of a proprietary blend of components
specifically combined to create the unique properties required.
Structural steel fibers are used to virtually eliminate the need
for reinforcing bar while increasing flexural strength.
There are several benefits to UHPC, including enlarged
clear span capabilities. It has reduced construction time, uses
less material, increases interior design flexibility, increases The beams and hollow-core slabs are fully erected before the top-
building durability and strength, and is more sustainable, with ping is placed for the new Steel District office building in Sioux Falls.
less ecological impact. Courtesy of e.construct.USA, LLC.
Engineers and architects can use UHPC to optimize their
building’s complete framing system to reduce the number of precast concrete pieces to work with, developers and general
pieces and columns in interior spaces. Building owners enjoy contractors enjoy faster building erection time lines and fewer
the flexibility of renting to a larger customer base with the workforce demands.
increased space design options. UHPC also creates open floor On this project, builders were able to meet design requests.
layouts, eliminating the need to design around beams that dis- “The developer wanted to keep floor heights the same, so this
rupt team collaboration. In addition, because there are fewer challenged us to find a way to run the mechanical, plumbing,
and HVAC through the beams,” says Joe Bunkers, president
The new office facility in the Sioux Falls, S.Dak., riverfront Steel District of Gage Brothers. “We created boxed-out sections, or holes, to
was built using precast ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) allow them to cross through our beam instead of passing under
beams, making it the first office building in the nation to use UHPC in our beam. We also encased these openings with concrete to
this way. Courtesy of e.construct.USA, LLC. maintain fire resistance.”
In terms of production challenges, there were two. “First,
UHPC takes materials we don’t use for our traditional concrete
production,” Bunkers says. “We didn’t have the infrastructure to
buy in bulk and run it out of silos. Instead, we purchased every-
thing preweighed in super sacks.” Mixing concrete when dump-
ing out of super sacks takes time and is not particularly efficient.
“As a result, we essentially just powered through this,” he says.
The second production challenge was the time between batches.
Having one mixer with a 2 yd (1.5 m3) capacity made it difficult
to keep up with pouring. “We ultimately switched to producing
several two-yard batches and feeding them into a ready-mix
truck for delivery,” he says. “We would fill both trucks and then
could dump in one continuous pour.”
—William Atkinson

Precast concrete takes
Baltimore utility over water
B altimore Gas and Electric (BGE), a Maryland-based

electric utility, owns and operates a high-voltage trans-
mission grid. One important component of that grid is the
Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Md., where underwa-
ter lines were installed in the 1970s about 10 to 15 ft (3 to
5 m) below the riverbed. The 2.5 mi (4 km) long Key Bridge
portion of the line has been in service for more than 50 years
and displayed signs of deterioration. Because this section is
critical for the resilience of the grid system, BGE planned to
replace it.
Although various alternatives were analyzed, taking into Using precast concrete reduced the construction time of the in-water
consideration cost, design complexity, environmental impact, tower protective structures, reduced the amount of CIP concrete form-
stakeholder preferences, permitting complications, and inter- work, and improved the accuracy of perimeter fender bolt placement.
ruption of shipping, the project team selected overhead lines Courtesy of McKissack & McKissack.
incorporating tall towers in the river.
Compared with the underwater option, which would have time of the in-water structures, increasing the design life of
required jet plowing submarine cable through the river bot- the reinforcement, reducing the amount of CIP concrete
tom, the overhead option was more environmentally sound. In formwork, and improving the accuracy of perimeter fender
addition, installing underground cables would have cost about bolt placement. With so much work to be performed in an
twice as much as the overhead project. accelerated construction schedule, using precast concrete was
The final design was completed at the end of 2019 and the most effective method to achieve on-time completion of
includes a total of eight towers, with heights between 160 and the project.
400 ft (42 and 122 m). The towers in the water required inde- All concrete components directly above open water were
pendent vessel collision protection structures to prevent ships designed and detailed as precast concrete, requiring only nar-
from striking the towers or their foundations. The protection row CIP closure pours between precast concrete planks.
structures have a continuous concrete ring around each foun- The precast concrete configuration consists of precast
dation, the largest being 14 ft (4.3 m) wide, 7 ft (2.1 m) deep, concrete caps installed on top of the piles, with precast con-
and 633 ft (193 m) long. crete planks spanning between the caps to form a continuous
Both the foundation and protection structures are com- precast concrete working surface over the water. A total of
posed of layers of precast and cast-in-place (CIP) concrete sup- 62 panels and 67 pile caps—weighing from 8 to 47 tons (7 to
ported by steel pipe piles. Precast concrete was incorporated 43 tonnes)—were used for the project.
into the earliest design concepts and was a dominant technol- The contractor’s substitution of a single monolithic precast
ogy in all overwater construction, reducing the construction concrete foundation piece at three of the towers required a
164 ton (149 tonne) square precast concrete pile cap. Marine
Overlapping precast concrete components in place atop steel piles concrete was used to provide a 75-year design service life.
simplified the formwork required for constructing a continuous con- “To accelerate construction, precast pieces were redesigned
crete ring surrounding each in-water electrical transmission tower. to minimize the amount of forming required for the cast-in-
Courtesy of McKissack & McKissack. place operation,” says Bert Richardson, project manager for
Coastal Precast Systems of Chesapeake, Va., the precaster
selected for the project. “Because smaller pile caps were rede-
signed into a single pile cap that weighed over 160 tons, care
had to be taken to ensure that concrete curing temperatures
did not exceed specifications.”
The project is located in the Patapsco River, so all the pre-
cast concrete was barged to the jobsite. “This allowed us to
make larger pieces that sped up construction,” Richardson says.
“Job specifications required preassembly of the precast before
shipping. Because storage space was limited in the casting yard,
we erected the pieces on the barge and shipped it to the jobsite
mock erected.”
—William Atkinson J

Research Corner
Introducing precast concrete

bridges to the United States
Andrew Osborn and Helmuth Wilden
I n this column, our focus over the past year has been
to show the influence and benefits of past PCI-funded
research and development projects on current design and
construction practices with precast concrete. In this issue
on innovation, we chose to deviate from what we’ve done
and describe the first prestressed concrete bridge built in
the United States, the Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge in
Philadelphia, Pa., which was completed in 1950. As part of
the original design and construction, a full-scale girder was
tested to destruction to demonstrate the adequacy of design
of this previously unknown (to U.S. engineers) structural
system: prestressed concrete. PCI had no role in funding
this test since PCI did not exist until 1954, four years after
the bridge was built.
The use of prestressed concrete for this purpose in the
United States was truly innovative. A confluence of events
was necessary to bring it about.1–7 Although the bridge was
Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge spanning Lincoln Drive and
actually a post-tensioned structure, each girder was cast at a Monoshone Creek in Philadelphia, Pa. Source: Wikipedia.
set location on falsework, tendons were stressed, and ducts
were grouted, and then the girder was slid on rails to its
final position making it somewhat like what we call precast, concrete. Preload contacted Magnel, who jumped at the
prestressed today. chance to introduce the United States to this amazing new
The city of Philadelphia wanted to have a bridge built structural system.
to carry traffic on West Walnut Lane over Lincoln Drive Magnel had written the first textbook on the design of
in Fairmont Park. A reinforced concrete arch bridge was prestressed concrete structures, Le Béton Précontraint,8 in
designed and approved in 1931 and again in 1947. In both 1948. Zollman helped translate it from French into English
cases, the bids came in above the engineer’s estimate, and the first English translation, Prestressed Concrete,9 was
requiring that the design be revised. The city wanted a less published the same year. With help from Preload, Magnel
expensive but aesthetically acceptable alternative. went on to design the Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge and
Between 1947 and 1948, city engineers were meet- Preload provided a bid that was substantially lower than the
ing with Preload Enterprises Inc. on an unrelated project. engineer’s estimate. The bridge was aesthetically acceptable
Preload had developed a specialty: designing and installing to the art jury, which had to approve any structures to be
prestressed concrete circular tanks. Preload had never done built in the park. Magnel convinced the Philadelphia Bureau
a linear prestressed concrete structure before, but one of its of Engineering (BOE) to approve the design. The BOE, in
engineers, Charles Zollman had been a student and advocate turn, required that a full-scale prototype be built and tested
of Gustave Magnel, a professor at the University of Ghent to failure and that all of Mangels’ instructions be followed
in Belgium. Magnel had visited the United States in 1946 to the letter during construction. Construction drawings
and at a series of lectures extolled the virtues of prestressed were developed by a young engineer at Preload, Ted Gutt.

Half girder in elevation. Source: Fornerod (1950).
The Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge comprised three

spans: 74, 160, and 74 ft (22.6, 48.8, and 22.6 m). The
160 ft center span (center-to-center of piers) is long even
by today’s standards. The center span comprised 13 gird-
ers that were each 79 in. (2007 mm) deep by 51 in. (1295
mm) wide. The top flanges were separated by 1 in. (25
mm). A cast-in-place deck was placed on top. Each gird-
er was post-tensioned with 256 wires distributed equally
among four ducts. Each wire was 0.276 in. (7 mm) diam-
eter and was manufactured by Roebling Iron Works. The
wires had a designated yield strength of 160 ksi (1100
MPa) and a designated ultimate strength of 210 ksi (1500
MPa). The actual measured yield and ultimate strengths
were 210 and 245 ksi (1690MPa), respectively. Two of
the ducts were draped and two were straight. Final pre-
stress losses of 13% were expected. The wires were each
tensioned to 126 ksi (869 MPa), which declined to 110 ksi
(760 MPa) after release, indicating prestress losses at time
of test already reached 13%. Hence the total prestressed
force was 1680 kip (7473 kN) after initial losses. The
prestress centroid was 43.9 in. (31,800 mm) from the top
at the ends and 63.2 in. (40,775 mm) from the top at mid-
span. Prestressing utilized a “sandwich plate” anchorage
that had been developed in Belgium by Magnel-Blaton. Typical main span interior girder in section midspan.
A prototype beam was built. The protype beam was Source: Zollman (1992).
full scale with a center-to-center bearing span of 156.3 ft
(47.6 m). During tensioning, the center span cambered up
1.24 in. (31.5 mm). Besides the self-weight of 1780 lb/
ft (7917 N/ft), it was loaded using hydraulic rams reacting
via tie rods against a counterweight. During the test, the
counterweight was exceeded and additional weight had to
be added at the center of the span to fail the beam. At fail-
ure, the total load on the beam (including self-weight) was
equivalent to almost 7000 lb/ft (102 kN/m), creating a cen-
ter span moment of more than 20,000 kip-ft (27,115 kN-m)
and a deflection of about 26 in. (660 mm).
The test girder was instrumented by Arthur Anderson.
Perhaps the most complete description of the test found by
the authors was in an International Association for Bridge
and Structural Engineering paper authored by Preload’s
chief engineer, M. Fornerod,4 in 1950. However, the deflec- Eight-wire sandwich plate anchorage retrieved after
demolition. Courtesy of Helmuth Wilden.
tions reported by Fornerod do not match those reported by
Anderson7 or Magnel.5,

Schematic of eight-wire sandwich plate. Source: Zollman
(1992). Load test setup. Source: Fornerod (1950).
Load deflection relationship final load cycle. Source: Magnel (1950).
Longitudinal cracks started to appear at fascia girders prestressed concrete girders of similar dimensions to the
in 1957. When examined in the 1960s, it was found that original. The work was done in 1990. Zollman was still
the ducts had been incompletely grouted and had taken on involved, nearly 40 years after his work on the original
water. The entrapped water froze, expanded, and cracked bridge. During demolition it was found that the concrete
the concrete surrounding the duct. Epoxy injection repairs and prestressing wires in interior girders were in excellent
were performed in 1969. In the ensuing years, new cracks condition. The only concrete and steel needing remedia-
and other apparent signs of deterioration were observed. tion was observed at the south fascia girder and, to a lesser
PennDOT made the decision to demolish this historic extent, the north fascia girder.
bridge and replace it with a new one made from precast,

References
1. Billington, D. P. 2004. “Historical Perspective on
Prestressed Concrete.” PCI Journal 49 (1): 14–30. About the authors
https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij49.1-07.
2. Zollman, C. C., F. Depman, J. Nagle, and E. F. Andrew Osborn is senior
Hollander. 1992. “Building and Rebuilding of principal at Wiss, Janney,
Philadelphia’s Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge. Part 1: Elstner Associates Inc. and
A History of Design, Construction, and Service Life.” chair of the PCI Research and
PCI Journal 37 (3): 66–82. https://doi.org/10.15554 Development Council.
/pcij.05011992.66.82.
3. Zollman, C. C., F. Depman, J. Nagle, and E. F.
Hollander. 1992. “Building and Rebuilding of Helmuth Wilden is president
Philadelphia’s Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge. Part 2: of Wilden Enterprises Inc.
Demolition and Rebuilding of the Superstructure.” PCI
Journal 37 (4): 64–82. https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij
.07011992.66.82.
4. Fornerod, M. 1950. “Load and Destruction Test of 160-
Foot Girder Designed for First Prestressed Concrete
Bridge in U.S.A.” International Association for Bridge
and Structural Engineering Proceedings, vol. 10, Keywords
11–35. https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-10582.
5. Magnel, G. 1954. Prestressed Concrete. 3rd ed. Bridge, girder, prestressed concrete, sandwich
London, UK: Concrete Publications Ltd. plate, Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge.
6. Magnel, G. 1950. “Prototype Prestressed Beam Justifies
Walnut Lane Bridge Design.” ACI Journal Proceedings Publishing details
47 (4): 301–316.
7. Anderson, A. 1979. “An Adventure in Prestressed This paper appears in PCI Journal (ISSN 0887-
Concrete.” PCI Journal 24 (4): 116–138. https://doi 9672) V. 68, No. 6, November–December 2023,
.org/10.15554/pcij.07011979.116.139. and can be found at https://doi.org/10.15554
8. Magnel, G. 1948. Le Béton Précontraint. Ghent, /pcij68.6-04. PCI Journal is published bimonthly
Belgium: Fecheyr. by the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute,
9. Magnel, G. 1948. Prestressed Concrete. 1st ed. 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 1150, Chicago,
London, UK: Concrete Publications Ltd. IL 60631. Copyright © 2023, Precast/Prestressed
Concrete Institute.
Have a research idea?
We urge readers to send in their research ideas to

Jared Brewe, PCI’s vice president of Technical
Services, at jbrewe@pci.org. J

Experimental and numerical study
of a motion amplification mechanism
to enhance the seismic dissipation
capacity of precast, post-tensioned
concrete rocking systems
Ahmet Ata Kulaksizoglu, Cetin Yilmaz, and Cem Yalcin
T
he modern approach to the seismic design of struc-
tures focuses on two main objectives: providing
sufficient strength to resist loads caused by earth-
quake excitation and providing sufficient ductility so that the
structure can undergo inelastic deformations without failing
in a brittle manner. Inelastic behavior is permitted, and even
encouraged, because it is not economically feasible to design
structures to remain elastic in an earthquake event. However,
■ The external damper proposed in this research uses inelasticity causes damage in structural members. In many
the concept of motion amplification, which aims to cases, efforts to repair the structural damage and retrofit the
magnify the seismic displacements and rotations im- structure are expensive and adversely affect the functionality
posed on the joint by the gap-opening mechanism. of the structure. Low-damage seismic systems have emerged
to address these challenges in buildings. In these types of
■ To investigate the behavior of precast, post-tensioned structural systems, negligible and repairable seismic damage
concrete rocking systems with the proposed damp- is localized at specially designed locations and residual
ers, a representative frame and 10 subassemblies to deformations are reduced.1
obtain the cyclic force-displacement response were
analyzed. One type of low-damage seismic system is a precast,
post-tensioned concrete frame structure in which lateral
■ Experiments were conducted on a prototype damp- load-resisting capacity is provided by precast concrete ele-
er mechanism to investigate the effect of various ments and the post-tensioning tendons that connect them.1,2
parameters on the force-displacement response and These precast, post-tensioned concrete rocking systems
to verify the numerical modeling principles. Nu- minimize damage in two ways. First, seismic damage is
merical studies of the subassemblies showed that localized at the rocking interface between beams and col-
the proposed damper mechanism increased the umns, rather than at the components themselves, because of
energy dissipation and force capacity of unbonded, the gap-opening mechanism that occurs when the structure
post-tensioned rocking systems. is subjected to earthquake excitation. This joint is special-

ly designed to minimize the amount of damage. Second, Koshikawa et al.8,9 carried out parametric analytical studies
the post-tensioning tendons are designed to remain elastic on the contribution of metallic yielding and friction dampers
under seismic demands. Since these tendons are the primary to the energy dissipation capacity of precast, post-tensioned
components of the lateral load-resisting system, the system concrete rocking systems. They concluded that “energy dissi-
can “self-center” after the earthquake, which reduces resid- pation increases linearly with the increase of both the damper
ual deformations dramatically. Priestley et al.1 have demon- yield force and the distance of the damper from the beam
strated that at large drift demands, the amount of damage in centerline.”
reinforced concrete buildings is considerably greater than the
level in buildings with precast and post-tensioned concrete Several recent studies have investigated an array of external
rocking systems. energy dissipation devices used with precast, post-tensioned
concrete rocking systems. These devices included thin rubber
These distinctive features of precast, post-tensioned con- layers,10 steel angles,11 embedded steel connectors,12 fric-
crete rocking systems also have disadvantages. The lack of tion-damped wall joints,13 replaceable steel bars,14 and steel
plastic hinging in the components of these systems, along plastic hinges15 that are specially designed to contribute to
with the elastic design of the post-tensioning tendons, limits external energy dissipation.
the hysteretic energy dissipation capacity that is inherent in
conventional reinforced concrete structures. As a result, the Theory and explanation of the
lateral displacement demands may be greater than what is proposed damper mechanism
acceptable for these systems. In the first generation of com-
prehensive experiments studying the behavior of precast and Previous research4–16 on increasing the energy dissipation ca-
post-tensioned concrete, mild steel reinforcement was placed pacity of precast and post-tensioned concrete rocking systems
at the top and bottom parts of the beam to enhance energy mostly focused on velocity-dependent (viscous) and displace-
dissipation capacity.2 However, if mild steel reinforcement is ment-dependent (metallic yielding and translational friction)
used to contribute to hysteretic energy-dissipation capacity by dampers. The mechanisms for these types of external dampers
yielding, the reinforcement must be replaced after an earth- employ the principles of translational velocity and translation-
quake. Furthermore, Ertas and Ozden3 have demonstrated that al displacement.
as the contribution of mild steel reinforcement to moment
capacity increases, the self-centering capacity of the precast, The external damper proposed in this research uses the
post-tensioned concrete decreases significantly. concept of motion amplification, which aims to magnify
the seismic displacements and rotations imposed on the
Several researchers have developed and tested external joint by the gap-opening mechanism. Although there have
dampers to be used in lieu of mild steel in precast, post-ten- been studies of this principle,17–23 the recent literature has
sioned concrete rocking systems with the aim of enhancing been predominantly focused on toggle brace dampers.
energy dissipation capacity with replaceable, reparable, or Dampers of that type occupy considerable space in build-
self-centering devices, thereby reducing seismic displacement ings and therefore may not be favorable options when
demands on the building itself. compactness is of concern. The proposed damper, which
is placed only at a beam-column joint, works with the ro-
Morgen and Kurama4,5 conducted various subassembly experi- tational friction mechanism that occurs on special friction
ments to investigate force-deformation behavior for speci- surfaces between the joints of steel plates. Damper systems
mens that had external damping devices designed to work working with principle of rotational friction have been pro-
with the principle of translational friction. They concluded posed previously.24–26 However, those systems are lacking
that the primary source of energy dissipation in such struc- in two fundamental ways. First, because the initial angles
tures is the dampers and the specimens with dampers could of the test systems were not less than 30 degrees, the sys-
be designed to obtain the minimum energy dissipation ratios tems could not take advantage of the motion amplification
prescribed by the American Concrete Institute’s Acceptance concept. Second, the friction mechanism in the existing
Criteria for Moment Frames Based on Structural Testing, ACI systems occurred only at the middle joint for these damp-
T1.1-01.6 In contrast, the unbonded, post-tensioned speci- ers; thus, the systems did not take advantage of the relative
mens without dampers did not achieve the minimum energy rotation of the end joints. Figure 1 shows how a cantile-
dissipation ratios. ver beam displaced vertically at its end is affected by the
proposed mechanism as well as the previously proposed
Pampanin et al7 conducted dynamic shake table tests, using translational friction4 and metallic yielding5 mechanisms.
near-field and far-field earthquake records, on precast concrete In the proposed external damper, as the initial angle of the
rocking walls with viscous dampers, metallic yielding dampers, damper position gets smaller, the relative rotation between
or a combination of both. The investigators concluded that the surfaces is amplified. Since energy dissipation is directly
external devices helped reduce the displacement demands and related to the amount of relative rotation made by these
satisfied the various performance criteria, including limitations surfaces, this damper design yields an effective external
on concrete and strand strains. However, the viscous dampers damper device whose damping capacity can be adjusted
were quite inefficient for low damper-displacement amplitudes. depending on the demand. To illustrate the motion ampli-

Figure 1. Comparison of translational friction mechanism, metallic yielding mechanism, and proposed (rotational friction) mech-
anism with amplified damping. Note: d = relative translational displacement; di = relative translational displacement at damper
component i; dθ1 = relative rotation at damper joint 1; dθ2 = relative rotation at damper joint 2; dθ3 = relative rotation at damper
joint 3; dθ4 = relative rotation at damper joint 4; dθ5 = relative rotation at damper joint 5; dθ6 = relative rotation at damper joint
6.; d1 = relative translational displacement at damper component 1; d2 = relative translational displacement at damper compo-
nent 2; Fb = force acting on beam end; ui = axial deformation of yielding damper component i; u1 = axial deformation of yielding
damper component 1; u2 = axial deformation of yielding damper component 2.
fication effect of the initial angle, the graph in Fig. 2 plots initial angle at which the damper enters this position at the
data from a kinematic analysis of the proposed damper maximum expected joint rotation. Consequently, a larger
that takes into account joint rotation. In order to prevent initial angle should be chosen for design to prevent this
the damper from approaching toggle position during the phenomenon. Kinematics of the damper system is de-
earthquake and locking itself, it is crucial to determine the scribed further in a later section of this article.

Figure 2. Motion amplification effect of the damper. Note: θfr,1(t) = initial angle of the damper at time t; θfr,1(0) = initial angle of the
damper at time 0; θimp = imposed rotation at the precast concrete beam-column joint; dθ1 = relative rotation at damper joint 1;
dθ2 = relative rotation at damper joint 2; dθ3 = relative rotation at damper joint 3; dθ4 = relative rotation at damper joint 4; dθ5 =
relative rotation at damper joint 5; dθ6 = relative rotation at damper joint 6.
Figure 3. Three-dimensional rendering of the proposed damper mechanism installed on a precast concrete beam-column joint.
Figure 3 presents a three-dimensional rendering of the be assembled at the construction site following erection
proposed damper system. The main elements in the damper of precast concrete components. The necessary clamping
assembly are the steel plates, steel anchorage members, force for rotational friction resistance is obtained by using
and aluminum friction discs that are placed in plate-plate a torque wrench to apply predetermined torques to the
and plate–anchorage member connections. The system can bolts.

Numerical model of the proposed r2 = outer radius of the friction surface
damper mechanism
r1 = inner radius of the friction surface
An OpenSees (Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simu- Nb
p=
lation) model of the proposed mechanism was created (Fig. 4). π ( r2 − r12 ) 2
2
Responses predicted with this numerical model were compared

with experimental results. For symmetric loading in the exper- where
iments, two identical dampers were placed symmetrically with
respect to the vertical axis. The part of the model that governed Nb = clamping force acting on the bolt due to applied
the behavior was the zero-length rotational spring defined torque
at the joints. Two separate nodes with identical coordinates Tblt
Nb =
were defined at these joints, and the nodes were kinematically Kd blt
constrained to each other at the x and y directions. For rotation where
about the z axis, a zero-length rotational spring with a defined
nonlinear moment-rotation relationship was assigned between Tblt = bolt torque
the two nodes. This elastic, perfectly plastic moment-rotation
relationship was strictly dependent on the Tfr parameter, which K = constant for the bolt material and size
is the moment (torque) at which the joint starts relative rotation.
This parameter is defined by Eq. (1). dblt = diameter of the bolt
Tfr = 23 nµπ p ( r23 − r13 ) (1)
The values of the variables used in this study are: n = 2,
where r1= 15 mm, r2 = 75 mm, K = 0.2 mm, and dblt = 30 mm.
n = number of friction surfaces Experimental studies of the proposed

damper mechanism
μ = coefficient of friction between surfaces
Experiments were conducted on the damper mechanism
p = stress acting on the friction surface due to bolt by means of a servo-hydraulic test system, with the test
torque parameters of initial angle θfr,1(0), bolt torque in the middle
Figure 4. Numerical modeling principles. Note: F1 = vertical force at the left component of the damper; F2 = vertical force at the
right component of the damper; Tfr = frictional clamping torque value applied to the surface of all damper joints for subassembly
analyses; u(t) = vertical displacement imposed at the top joint of damper at time t.

Figure 5. Damper assembly test setup.
joint Tblt,m, bolt torque in the top and bottom joints Tblt,tb, and 800 MPa [116 ksi], and modulus of elasticity of bolt Eb of
displacement amplitude umax. Since the test system was able to 200 GPa [29,000 ksi]). At the end of each bolt, three disc
apply the displacement-based protocol in a vertical manner, springs, one nut, and one counter-nut were placed. The bolt
the damper device was placed accordingly. Furthermore, to clamping force was applied using a torque wrench, while the
prevent the application of any twisting or moment to the test applied torque for each joint was monitored in each test. The
machine, two identical mechanisms were placed symmet- damper mechanism was connected to the test machine using
rically with respect to the vertical axis. Figure 5 shows the steel plates and M16 (16 mm [0.6 in.] diameter) Grade 8.8
damper mechanism on the test machine and Fig. 6 illustrates steel connection bolts.
the damper mechanism’s dimensions.
Several tests were conducted using the values for control
The prototype damper mechanism consisted of four steel parameters (Table 1). The experiments were conducted in
plates (two at the top unit, two at the bottom unit) connect- accordance with Section 9.3.8 of the Federal Emergency
ed to one another at the middle joint and to the anchorage
plates at the top and the bottom joints. The damper plates
Table 1. Parameter values in the experiments
were plasma cut from ST37 Grade steel with specified
strength properties of yield strength of structural steel fys of θfr,1(0), Tblt,m, Tblt,tb,
300 MPa (43.5 ksi), tensile strength of structural steel fus of Parameter umax, mm
deg N-m N-m
370 MPa (53.6 ksi), and modulus of elasticity of structural
steel Es of 200 GPa (29,000 ksi). The aluminum friction 30, 22.5, 25, 50, 0, 25, 50,
Values 5, 15, 25
discs were laser cut from 6061 aluminum alloy with spec- 15 100 100
ified strength properties of yield strength of aluminum fya
Note: Tblt,m = bolt torque applied to the middle joint in experiments; Tblt,tb
of 275 MPa (39.9 ksi), tensile strength of aluminum fua of
= bolt torque applied to the top and bottom joints in experiments; umax
310 MPa (45.0 ksi), and modulus of elasticity of aluminum
= maximum vertical displacement amplitude imposed on the damper;
Ea of 68 GPa (9860 ksi). The M30 (30 mm [1.2 in.] diam-
θfr,1(0) = initial angle of the damper at time 0. 1 mm = 0.0394 in.; 1 N-m =
eter) bolts and nuts were Grade 8.8 steel (yield strength of
0.7336 lb-ft.
bolt fyb of 640 MPa [93 ksi], tensile strength of bolt fub of

Figure 6. Damper assembly dimensions and parameters. Note: All dimensions are in millimeters. Tblt,m = bolt torque applied to
the middle joint in experiments; Tblt,tb = bolt torque applied to the top and bottom joints in experiments; u(t) = Vertical displace-
ment imposed at the top joint of damper at time t. 1 mm = 0.0394 in.
Management Agency’s Prestandard and Commentary for the For the test with an initial angle of 15 degrees, the behav-
Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings, FEMA-356.27 In each ior became asymmetric as the force capacity of the damper
experiment, the prototype mechanism was subjected to 30 exponentially increased and the displacement amplitude was
cycles of loading. Initial angles smaller than 15 degrees were increased. The relationship between the initial angle and the
not tested because the mechanism could come close to the area under the closed loop is also visible in the force-dis-
toggle position during the tension phase and could lock during placement plots.
the next compression phase in cyclic loading. The experimen-
tal results were evaluated in terms of maximum force capacity Experimental validation of the numerical
Fmax and average value for the area enclosed by force-dis- model
placement response WD,avg.
The coefficient of friction μ value of the friction surfaces
Summary of the experimental results in Eq. (1) for Tfr was determined by using the experiment
results to calibrate the numerical model. A mean value of
Figure 7 plots the effects of initial angle on force capacity 0.39 for μ satisfied the correlation between numerical and
Fmax and average work done by the closed loop WD,avg, along experimental results. This value is close to the coefficient
with the force-displacement relationships for tests with of friction value of 0.40 given for aluminum-steel surfaces
Tblt,m = Tblt,tb = 100 N-m (74 lb-ft). The results demonstrate in the literature.28 Frictional clamping torque Tfr values
that as the initial angle θfr,1(0) decreased, force capacity and corresponding to a Tblt of 25, 50, and 100 N-m (18, 37, and
the dissipated energy of the damper increased significantly, 74 lb-ft) as per Eq. (1) were 0.34, 0.68, and 1.36 kN-m
particularly when applied bolt torques were larger. Reduc- (0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 kip-ft), respectively. Figure 8 pres-
ing θfr,1(0) from 30 to 15 degrees for the dampers with Tblt,m = ents force-displacement plots comparing experimental test
Tblt,tb = 100 N-m increased Fmax from 22 kN (5 kip) to 65 kN results with results from the numerical model. Comparison
(15 kip), whereas that reduction in θfr,1(0) more than doubled of these plots illustrates that the numerical modeling prin-
the work done by the closed loop WD,avg. This phenomenon ciples outlined previously accurately captured the experi-
can also be observed in the force-displacement plots (Fig. 7). mental behavior.

Figure 7. Experimental results. Note: F = Total vertical force acting on the damper; Fmax = maximum force capacity of the test
specimen; Tblt,m = bolt torque applied to the middle joint in experiments; Tblt,tb = bolt torque applied to the top and bottom joints
in experiments; u = vertical displacement imposed on the damper; WD,avg = average area of hysteresis loop for all cycles; θfr,1(0) =
initial angle of the damper at time 0. 1 mm = 0.0394 in.; 1 kN = 0.225 kip; 1 N-m = 0.7376 lb-ft; 1 kN-mm = 8.851 lb-in.

Figure 8. Comparison of numerical analysis and experimental results. Note: F = Total vertical force acting on the damper;
Tblt,m = bolt torque applied to the middle joint in experiments; Tblt,tb = bolt torque applied to the top and bottom joints in experi-
ments; u = Vertical displacement imposed on the damper; θfr,1(0) = initial angle of the damper at time 0. 1 mm = 0.0394 in.;
1 kN = 0.225 kip; 1 N-m = 0.7376 lb-ft.
Numerical studies Concrete02 material as concrete and Steel01 material as re-

inforcement bars. A short (20 mm [0.8 in.]), nonlinear beam
To investigate the behavior of precast, post-tensioned con- element with no tensile stiffness in concrete fibers (Con-
crete rocking systems with the proposed dampers, a repre- crete01) and no reinforcement bars was defined to account
sentative frame and 10 subassemblies to obtain the cyclic for the unique gap-opening behavior at the joint interface.
force-displacement response were analyzed. Figure 9 shows The unbonded post-tensioning tendons were modeled using
the representative frame and Fig. 10 shows details for the truss elements. The initial jacking stresses were defined
subassembly analyses. The damper parameters (dimensions by InitStressMaterial, which was then assigned to Elastic-
and bolt torques) were designed according to the performance MultiLinear material used in the truss elements. The initial
demands of the frame-level analyses. Given the limited force jacking stress of tendons was half the ultimate strength.
capacity of the testing equipment, the damper parameters in The anchorage of post-tensioning tendons to beam ends
the experiments were scaled down. This scaling was done was modeled using rigid links that kinematically constrain
by using Eq. (1) to obtain maximum bolt torque that can be relevant nodes. In Fig. 9 and 10, post-tensioning tendons
applied without exceeding the vertical force capacity of the are shown as vertically offset from beams for the sake
testing equipment. Numerical modeling of the damper (Fig. 4) of illustration. In the numerical model, the tendons were
was used to relate the capacity of the testing machine to the kinematically constrained to beam end nodes with identical
friction torques calculated by Eq. (1). In the numerical analy- coordinates. The damper mechanisms were also kinematical-
ses, a larger-size damper mechanism was used (Fig. 10). ly constrained by rigid links to the corresponding nodes at
beam and column elements.
The principles described by Morgen and Kurama4 were used
to model the subassemblies and the frames in the OpenSees This research verified the numerical modeling principles
finite element model. The precast concrete beam and column outlined herein by comparing the analysis results with the
elements were modeled using two-dimensional, displace- experimental results of Ertas and Ozden3 at the subassembly
ment-based beam-column elements (dispBeamColumn) in level and the parametric results of Morgen and Kurama5 at the
OpenSees. These elements incorporate fiber sections with frame level.

Figure 9. Representative frame and representative frame numerical model in OpenSees. Note: All dimensions are in millimeters.
OpenSees = Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation. 1 mm = 0.0394 in.

Figure 10. Subassembly and subassembly numerical model in OpenSees. Note: All dimensions are in millimeters. Aps = total
cross-sectional area of one layer of post-tensioning strands; OpenSees = Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation;
PT = post-tensioned; Tblt = bolt torque; θfr,1(t) = initial angle of the damper at time t. 1 mm = 0.0394 in; 1 mm2 = 0.00155 in.2
Subassembly-level analyses Ah
=
( E1 + E 2 )( θ1 + θ2 )
The numerical modeling principles were used to analyze the
effect of the initial angle θfr,1(0) and bolt torque Tblt on the re-
sponse of the subassemblies. Equal bolt torques were applied where
to all damper joints in the model. The energy dissipation ca-
pacity of systems is quantified in ACI T1.1-016 by the relative Ah = total area of the hysteresis loop
energy dissipation ratio β, which is defined as
E1 = peak lateral resistance for positive loading for the
the ratio of actual to ideal energy dissipated by test mod- relevant sequence
ule during reversed cyclic response between given drift
ratio limits, expressed as the ratio of the area of the hys- E2 = peak lateral resistance for negative loading for the
teresis loop for that cycle to the area of the circumscribing relevant sequence
parallelograms defined by the initial stiffness during the
first cycle and the peak resistance during the cycle for θ1 = drift ratio for zero lateral load for unloading at
which the energy dissipation ratio is calculated. initial stiffness from peak positive resistance
This parameter is formulated by the following relation and θ2 = drift ratio for zero lateral load for unloading at
is deemed insufficient if its value is less than 0.125 for third initial stiffness from peak negative resistance
cycle of drift ratio of 3.50%:

In accordance with the acceptance criteria from ACI T1.1-01,6 presents initial stiffness values Ki along with force capacities
the top nodes of the columns for subassemblies with varying Fr with respect to drift demands. Figure 11 shows cyclic hys-
parameters were subjected to a displacement protocol cor- teresis curves for the subassemblies.
responding to ±0.15%, ±0.20%, ±0.25%, ±0.35%, ±0.50%,
±0.75%, ±1.00%, ±1.40%, ±1.75%, ±2.20%, ±2.75%, SU0 was the baseline subassembly with no damper. SU1 was
±3.50%, and ±4.00% relative drifts. Table 2 shows the param- the baseline subassembly with the addition of parameters
eters of the 10 subassemblies (SU0–SU09) along with relative to constitute a reference to observe the effect of the initial
energy dissipation ratio β values obtained from OpenSees damper angle. SU2 through SU5 were subassemblies with
cyclic hysteresis results for the selected drift ratios. Table 3 decreasing initial damper angles and SU6 through SU9 were
Table 2. Relative energy dissipation ratios for subassemblies analyzed in OpenSees
θfr,1(0), Tblt, Tfr, β

SU
deg N-m kN-m ±0.50% ±0.75% ±1.40% ±1.75% ±2.20% ±3.50% ±4.00% Average
0 22.50 0 0 0.008 0.009 0.013 0.010 0.011 0.013 0.010 0.010
1 22.50 444 10 0.170 0.183 0.183 0.178 0.172 0.164 0.161 0.152
2 30.00 444 10 0.120 0.136 0.140 0.136 0.131 0.124 0.121 0.109
3 26.25 444 10 0.142 0.157 0.159 0.154 0.149 0.141 0.138 0.128
4 18.75 444 10 0.206 0.218 0.216 0.210 0.204 0.196 0.195 0.185
5 15.00 444 10 0.255 0.265 0.261 0.256 0.251 0.239 0.231 0.231
6 15.00 89 2 0.073 0.076 0.077 0.073 0.073 0.077 0.078 0.071
7 15.00 267 6 0.178 0.184 0.181 0.177 0.175 0.173 0.171 0.164
8 15.00 623 14 0.313 0.328 0.324 0.318 0.310 0.287 0.272 0.280
9 15.00 801 18 0.356 0.376 0.374 0.367 0.357 0.325 0.304 0.316
Note: OpenSees = Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation; SU = subassembly; Tblt = bolt torque; Tfr = frictional clamping torque value
applied to the surface of all damper joints for subassembly; β = relative energy dissipation ratio; θfr,1(0) = initial angle of the damper at time 0. 1 kN/m =
0.069 kip/ft; 1 N-m = 0.7376 lb-ft; 1 kN-m = 0.7376 kip-ft.
Table 3. Force capacities and initial stiffness values for sub-assemblies analyzed in OpenSees
θfr,1(0), Tblt, Tfr, Fr ,kN

SU Ki, kN/m
deg N-m kN-m ±0.50% ±0.75% ±1.40% ±1.75% ±2.20% ±3.50% ±4.00%
0 22.50 0 0 179 190 218 233 251 287 292 616,000
1 22.50 444 10 223 235 264 281 301 342 349 642,000
2 30.00 444 10 212 224 252 268 287 324 329 631,000
3 26.25 444 10 217 229 257 273 292 331 337 636,000
4 18.75 444 10 231 244 275 293 314 364 376 652,000
5 15.00 444 10 244 259 296 317 346 444 502 667,000
6 15.00 89 2 191 203 232 249 269 317 333 628,000
7 15.00 267 6 217 230 264 282 307 380 418 650,000
8 15.00 623 14 272 288 328 353 385 506 583 682,000
9 15.00 801 18 300 317 361 389 426 568 660 694,000
Note: Fr = maximum force capacity of the subassembly at the given drift ratio; Ki = initial stiffness; OpenSees = Open System for Earthquake Engineer-
ing Simulation; SU = subassembly Tblt = bolt torque; Tfr = frictional clamping torque value applied to the surface of all damper joints for subassembly;
θfr,1(0) = initial angle of the damper at time 0. 1 kN/m = 0.069 kip/ft; 1 N-m = 0.7376 lb-ft; 1kN-m = 0.7376 kip-ft.

Figure 11. Force versus drift-ratio relationships for the subassemblies. Note: SU0 = subassembly 0; SU1 = subassembly 1; SU2 =
subassembly 2; SU3 = subassembly 3; SU4 = subassembly 4; SU5 = subassembly 5; SU6 = subassembly 6; SU7 = subassembly 7;
SU8 = subassembly 8; SU9 = subassembly 9. 1 kN = 0.225 kip.

subassemblies subjected to increasing bolt torques for the θfr,1(0) was small. A small initial angle (less than 20 degrees)
case where θfr,1(0) = 15 degrees. also prevented stiffness reduction, which otherwise would
occur due to the yielding of post-tensioning tendons.
General interpretation
of subassembly-level results Compared with subassembly SU0, the other subassemblies
did not exhibit dramatic increases in initial stiffness, implying
SU0, the subassembly without dampers, did not satisfy the that the reduction in seismic drift demands would be primarily
minimum ACI T1.1-016 requirement of 0.125 for β for any of due to energy dissipation related to the dampers, rather than
the drift ratios. This finding demonstrates that an unbonded, stiffening of the structure, which would increase seismic force
post-tensioned, precast concrete rocking system would not demands on the system. On the other hand, the dampers had a
have sufficient energy dissipation capacity. All of the other dramatic effect on moment capacity.
subassemblies except for SU2 and SU6 satisfied the minimum
ACI T1.1-01 requirement for all drifts. All of the subassemblies demonstrated self-centering capabil-
ity, mainly by exhibiting very small residual deformations in
The energy dissipation provided by the proposed damper was all drift demands.
significant for small drift demands. This finding implies that
the amplifying aspect of the damper would be effective for Effect of initial damper angle
light to moderate seismic effects.
Figure 12 illustrates the effect of initial damper angle on
The force capacities of the subassemblies were significantly the relative energy dissipation ratio and force capacity of the
increased with the dampers, particularly when initial angle subassemblies. Decreasing the initial angle of the damper
Figure 12. Effect of initial angle on subassembly behavior. Note: Fr = maximum force capacity of the subassembly at the given
drift ratio; SU1 = subassembly 1; SU2 = subassembly 2; SU3 = subassembly 3; SU4 = subassembly 4; SU5 = subassembly 5;
β = relative energy dissipation ratio. 1 kN = 0.225 kip.

significantly increased the energy dissipation capacity of the As the post-tensioning tendons reached the limit of linear
system. For example, for 2.20% drift, β was equal to 0.131 proportionality, a softening in stiffness of the system was ob-
for an initial angle of 30 degrees, whereas β increased to served for subassemblies with an initial angle larger than 15
0.251 for an initial angle of 15 degrees. Moreover, the average degrees (SU0 through SU4). However, the small initial angle
values of β were 0.109 and 0.231 for 30 degrees and 15 de- of the damper caused the force contribution of the damper to
grees, respectively. These findings demonstrate the amplifying exponentially increase, thereby compensating for the stiff-
effect of the damper. ness and force-capacity loss associated with the yielding of
post-tensioning tendons (SU5 through SU9).
Notably, the β value tended to decrease as the drift ratio
increased. This finding is explained by the fact that the work Changing the initial angle slightly influenced the initial
done by the closed area under the loop increased less than stiffness of the subassembly. When results for SU2 and SU5
the parallelogram enclosed by the initial stiffness and force were compared, decreasing the initial angle of the damper
capacity of the subassembly. increased the stiffness by only 6%. This finding indicates that
the damper can be effective in reducing seismic-displacement
Decreasing the initial angle had a dramatic effect on force ca- demands by providing a large amount of energy dissipation
pacity, particularly for larger drift demands. For 4.00% drift, rather than by stiffening the structure.
reducing the initial angle from 30 to 15 degrees increased
the force capacity from 329 to 502 kN (74 to 113 kip). The Effect of bolt torque
substantial increase in the capacity that was achieved by
reducing the initial angle further highlights the novel aspect of Figure 13 presents the effect of bolt torque in terms of the
the proposed damper. relative energy dissipation ratio and force capacity. Increasing
Figure 13. Effect of friction torque on subassembly behavior. Note: Fr = maximum force capacity of the subassembly at the given
drift ratio; SU5 = subassembly 5; SU6 = subassembly 6; SU7 = subassembly 7; SU8 = subassembly 8; SU9 = subassembly 9;
β = relative energy dissipation ratio. 1 kN = 0.225 kip.

bolt torque increased the energy dissipation. However, there damped frame was also greater than that of the undamped
was no linear relationship between bolt torque and energy dis- frame due to the exponentially increasing effect of damper
sipation. For example, SU9, whose bolt torque was nine times contribution to force capacity. The increase in post-yield
greater than that of SU6, had an average energy dissipation stiffness is because of the small initial angle θfr,1(0) chosen for
ratio that was roughly five times greater than that of SU6. the dampers.
For small drift demands, the effect of increasing bolt torque Kinematics of the damper system
was smaller. Increasing bolt torque had a negligible effect on
initial stiffness of the system. In contrast, bolt torque provided To prevent locking of the damper under expected joint rota-
a large additional force capacity to the system. However, as was tion demand, it is important to perform kinematic analysis to
the case with energy dissipation, force capacity was not linearly determine the minimum initial angle θfr,1(0) at which the damp-
correlated with bolt torque. This finding is expected because er does not take a collinear form (toggle position) under this
post-tensioning tendons also contribute to force capacity. demand. This analysis can be done by imposing the maximum
expected rotation θjo to the joint and applying the principle of
Frame-level analysis results closed-loop vectors to the displaced geometry to determine
the positions of damper joints.
The representative frame (Fig. 9) was analyzed to investi-
gate the effect of dampers on frame behavior and to take The relationship of the damper joint locations with respect
into account gravitational loads, which were applied as point to the imposed joint rotation θjo is expressed as follows:
loads to beam nodes. Two parametric frames, one without
Acos α A + B cos α B = C cos α C + D cos α D
any external dampers and one with the proposed dampers,
were analyzed under imposed roof drifts of ±0.50%, ±1.00%, Asin α A + B sin α B = C sin α C + D sin α D
±2.00% and ±3.50%. The dampers were designed so that the where
damped frame would have the same base shear capacity as the
undamped frame. The initial angle θfr,1(0) for the dampers was A = magnitude of vector A
15 degrees, whereas the dimensions were chosen to be the
same as those in subassembly analyses. Table 4 presents the αA = angle between vector A and positive x axis
parameters for the frames.
B = magnitude of vector B
Figure 14 shows the drift ratio versus base shear results for
the frames and Table 5 presents the results for the relative αB = angle between vector B and positive x axis
energy dissipation ratio β. The damped frame had larger work
done inside the closed loop (Fig. 14), which was also shown C = magnitude of vector C
by the significantly larger relative energy dissipation ratios in
Table 5. αC = angle between vector C and positive x axis
The undamped frame did not satisfy the minimum require- D = magnitude of vector D
ment for β, whereas the damped frame satisfied the minimum
requirement for β for all drifts. The post-yield stiffness of the αD = angle between vector D and positive x axis
Table 4. Frame parameters
Floor 1 2 3 4 5 6
Member dimensions for both frames, mm
Columns 710/965
Beams 610/1220 610/1220 610/1015 610/1015 610/810 610/810
Post-tensioning tendon area Aps, mm2
Undamped frame 7942 7024 7264 5174 3304 1490
Damped frame 6026 5599 5949 4213 2774 1490
Damper bolt torques Tblt, N-m
Undamped frame 0 0 0 0 0 0
Damped frame 1110 1055 945 775 500 0
Note: 1 mm = 0.0394 in.; 1 mm = 0.00155 in. ; 1 N-m = 0.7376 lb-ft.

2 2

Figure 14. Base shear versus drift ratio plots for frame analyses. Note: 1 kN = 0.225 kip.
The point about which the joint rotates, which has distance cc disposition of the damper amplified the displacements imposed
away from extreme beam fiber (Fig. 15), can be determined itera- by earthquakes, potentially providing a large amount of energy
tively by using section equilibrium. The initial angle at which the dissipation. The self-centering effect of post-tensioning strands
damper locks itself under joint rotation demand can be deter- prevents large residual deformations in the system, forcing it
mined by equating αD to 180 degrees for the rotation direction. to return to its original configuration after an earthquake. The
self-centering effect of strands is particularly significant be-
Conclusion cause dampers working with a friction mechanism do not have
self-centering capability. However, a balanced design method-
This research proposes a novel external damping system ology should be followed to ensure that the dampers provide
working with principle of rotational friction to limit seismic sufficient energy dissipation capacity while the post-tensioning
displacement demands on precast, post-tensioned concrete strands remain elastic after the earthquake. It is also imperative
structures, which have small energy dissipation capacities to determine the initial angle at which the damper does not lock
due to their unique behavior. Experiments were conducted itself for the expected maximum joint rotation.
on a prototype damper mechanism to investigate the effect of
various parameters on the force-displacement response and to The numerical studies of a representative frame with and
verify the numerical modeling principles. Numerical studies of without proposed dampers indicated that the proposed dampers
the subassemblies showed that the proposed damper mech- would provide a significant increase in energy dissipation and
anism increased the energy dissipation and force capacity of post-yield stiffness to the structure, reducing the amount of
unbonded, post-tensioned rocking systems. The geometrical post-tensioning tendons required to withstand seismic forc-
es. Unlike the classical toggle-brace dampers that work with
Table 5. Relative energy dissipation ratios β for frame displacement amplification principle, the proposed dampers
analyses would not occupy a large space within a building. The proposed
β
dampers are also novel in the sense that previous research
involving rotational friction dampers did not use the motion
Frame Drift ratio, % amplification mechanism and did not have contribution from
the end joints to the energy dissipation. Additional experimen-
±0.50 ±1.00 ±2.00 ±3.50
tal studies on precast, post-tensioned concrete beam-column
Undamped 0.108 0.100 0.116 0.123 subassemblies incorporating the proposed dampers would help
researchers better understand the behavior of precast, post-ten-
Damped 0.225 0.229 0.242 0.250
sioned concrete rocking systems with these dampers.

— = magnitude of vector A; B — = magnitude of vector B; c = distance between
Figure 15. Kinematics of the damper system. Note: A
— = magnitude of vector C; D
— c= magnitude of
extreme compression fiber to the origin of rotation at the beam-column joint; C
vector D; αA = angle between vector A and positive x axis; αB = angle between vector B and positive x axis; αC = angle between
vector C and positive x axis; αD = angle between vector D and positive x axis; θjo = maximum expected rotation at the precast
concrete beam-column joint for kinematic analysis.
Acknowledgments 4. Morgen, B. G., and Y. Kurama. 2004. “A Friction Damper

for Post-tensioned Precast Concrete Moment Frames.”
This work was funded by the Research Fund (grant number PCI Journal 49 (4): 113–133. https://doi.org/10.15554
21AD8) of Bogazici University. The assistance of the tech- /pcij.07012004.112.133.
nical staff of Bogazici University Materials Lab, where the
experiments were carried out, is greatly appreciated. 5. Morgen, B. G., and Y. Kurama. 2007. Friction-Damped
Unbonded Post-Tensioned Precast Concrete Moment
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Notation F = total vertical force acting on the damper
Ah = total area of hysteresis loop Fb = force acting on beam end
Aps = total cross-sectional area of one layer of post-ten- Fmax = maximum force capacity of the test specimen
sioning strands
Fr = maximum force capacity of the subassembly at the
A = magnitude of vector A given drift ratio
B = magnitude of vector B F1 = vertical force at the left component of the damper
cc = distance between extreme compression fiber to the F2 = vertical force at the right component of the damper
origin of rotation at the beam-column joint
K = constant for bolt material and size
C = magnitude of vector C
Ki = initial stiffness
d = relative translational displacement
n = number of friction surfaces
dblt = diameter of bolt
Nb = clamping force acting on the bolt due to applied
di = relative translational displacement at damper com- torque
ponent i
p = stress acting on the friction surface
d1 =relative translational displacement at damper com-
ponent 1 r1 = inner radius of the friction surface
d2 = relative translational displacement at damper com- r2 = outer radius of the friction surface
ponent 2
Tblt = bolt torque
d3 = relative translational displacement at damper com-
ponent 3 Tblt,m = bolt torque applied to the middle joint in experi-
ments
D = magnitude of vector D
Tblt,tb = bolt torque applied to the top and bottom joints in
Ea = modulus of elasticity of aluminum experiments
Eb = modulus of elasticity of bolt Tfr = frictional clamping torque value applied to the sur-
face of all damper joints for subassembly analyses
Es = modulus of elasticity of structural steel
u = axial deformation
E1 = peak lateral resistance for positive loading for the
relevant sequence ui = axial deformation of yielding damper component i
E2 = peak lateral resistance for negative loading for the umax = displacement amplitude (maximum displacement)
relevant sequence for experiments
fua = tensile strength of aluminum u(t) = vertical displacement imposed at the top joint of
damper at time t
fub = tensile strength of bolt
u1 = axial deformation of yielding damper component 1
fus = tensile strength of structural steel
fya = yield strength of aluminum
fyb = yield strength of bolt
WD = work done by the closed loop under force versus
fys = yield strength of structural steel the displacement relationship

WD,avg = average area of hysteresis loop for all cycles
αA = angle between vector A and positive x axis
αB = angle between vector B and positive x axis
αC = angle between vector C and positive x axis
αD = angle between vector D and positive x axis
β = relative energy dissipation ratio defined by ACI

T1.1-01
θfr,1(t) = initial angle of the damper at time t
θfr,1(0) = initial angle of the damper at time 0
θimp = imposed rotation at the precast concrete beam-col-

umn joint
θjo = maximum expected rotation at the precast concrete

beam-column joint for kinematic analysis
μ = coefficient of friction between surfaces

About the authors mands. In this study, a numerical model was developed
and verified with experimental results. This numerical
Ahmet Ata Kulaksizoglu, PhD, is model was used to analyze unbonded, post-tensioned
a structural engineer. He received beam-column subassemblies and frames with and
his bachelor of science from State without the proposed damper tested to develop the
University of New York at Buffalo force-displacement relations. The analysis results
and his master of science and indicate that the proposed damper would effectively
doctorate degree from Bogazici dissipate seismic energy and increase force capacity.
University in Istanbul, Turkey. His
research interests include computational structural Keywords
engineering, precast concrete, and post-tensioned
concrete. Frictional damping, low-damage seismic system, pre-
cast concrete seismic structural system, seismic design,
Cetin Yilmaz, PhD, is a professor unbonded post-tensioned precast concrete.
of mechanical engineering at
Bogazici University in Istanbul, Review policy
Turkey. He received his bachelor
of science from Bogazici Univer- This paper was reviewed in accordance with the Pre-
sity and his master of science and cast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s peer-review pro-
doctorate degree from the Univer- cess. The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute is not
sity of Michigan. His research interests include responsible for statements made by authors of papers
vibration isolation and mechanical design. in PCI Journal. No payment is offered.
Cem Yalcin, PhD, PEng, is a Publishing details

professor of civil engineering at
Bogazici University in Istanbul, This paper appears in PCI Journal (ISSN 0887-9672)
Turkey. He received his bachelor V. 68, No. 6, November–December 2023, and can be
of science from Bogazici Univer- found at https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij68.6-02. PCI
sity, his master of science from Journal is published bimonthly by the Precast/Pre-
Technical University of Nova stressed Concrete Institute, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.,
Scotia, and his doctorate degree from the University of Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60631. Copyright © 2023,
Ottawa. His research interests include experimental Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute.
methods of concrete structures, seismic retrofitting,
bridge engineering, precast concrete structures, and Reader comments
prestressed concrete structures.
Please address any reader comments to PCI Journal
Abstract editor-in-chief Tom Klemens at tklemens@pci.org or
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, c/o PCI Journal,
This paper describes research on the behavior of 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 1150, Chicago, IL
precast, post-tensioned concrete rocking systems with 60631.
a proposed new type of external rotational friction
damper. The proposed damper takes advantage of
geometrical arrangement with small initial angle (less
than 20 degrees) to amplify the relative rotations due
to the unique gap opening mechanism that occurs in
the joints of these systems. These relative rotations,
which take place on friction surfaces between metallic
friction plates, contribute to the energy dissipation and
force capacity of the system by means of rotational
friction. The novelty of the proposed damper stems
from the amplification effect, which provides substan-
tial energy dissipation capacity even in small drift de-

Review of supplementary
cementitious materials with implications
for age-dependent concrete properties
affecting precast concrete production
Zoe N. Lallas, Matthew J. Gombeda, and Flavia Mendonca
W
hile achieving satisfactory hardened and fresh
concrete properties is an important objective for
any structural concrete application, early-age
performance is important for precast concrete construction.
Plant manufacturing processes are optimized when casting
beds and other pertinent resources can be reused quickly to
maximize the output of precast concrete products. Expe-
dited development of early compressive, flexural, or tensile
strength may facilitate initial prestress and removal from
formwork with expedited turnover, often within 24 hours
of fresh concrete placement. For standard concrete mixture
designs, ordinary portland cement serves as a reliable binder.
However, the use of supplementary cementitious materials,
including manufacturing or organic byproducts diverted
■ This paper presents a comprehensive review of exist- from landfills or impoundments, has increased in recent
ing research examining the effects of supplementary years as the concrete industry strives to reduce the use of
cementitious materials on age-dependent concrete ordinary portland cement, which is the main contributor to
properties, in particular strength development. the overall carbon expenditure of concrete.
■ This review outlines the physical and chemical prop- Many supplementary cementitious materials are known to
erties of select types of supplementary cementitious exhibit lower heats of hydration compared with ordinary
materials, and reviews the concrete mixture propor- portland cement; therefore, the use of supplementary cemen-
tions, concrete curing methods, testing procedures, titious materials may prolong the development of adequate
and test results related to the fresh properties and strength properties, which would limit the production-cycle
strengths of a range of concrete mixtures. frequency of the precast concrete plant. For this reason,
precast concrete industry design guidelines have historically
■ The detailed information provided in this paper may limited the dosages of supplementary cementitious materials
facilitate more widespread replacement of cement used as partial replacements for ordinary portland cement
with these materials to enhance concrete properties to ensure that adequate high-early-strength requirements for
and comply with sustainability initiatives. initial prestress and for lifting and handling are maintained.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the effects of content by mass of 18%, whereas Class C has more than 18%
common supplementary cementitious materials on the ear- calcium oxide by mass.1 Both fly ash types are useful in con-
ly-age properties of concrete with the most profound impli- crete. The differences in composition affect strength devel-
cations for precast concrete production, including fresh and opment depending on the dosages and application. Harvested
hardened properties within 24 hours after fresh concrete place- (or landfilled) fly ashes may require processing and benefi-
ment. The paper also discusses how prominent physical and ciation before they are suitable for use in concrete because
chemical properties of the individual constituents in mixture these materials may have been originally discarded for not
designs influence the early-age properties of concrete. The most meeting ASTM C6181 requirements. Fly ash benefits long-
commonly used supplementary cementitious materials in cur- term strength development and the workability of concrete;
rent precast concrete production are the main focus throughout however, it hinders rapid strength development when used in
this paper, which is not intended to be a complete examination higher proportions (in the absence of chemical accelerators or
of all possible supplementary cementitious materials (emerging additional supplementary cementitious materials), which is a
types of supplementary cementitious materials are generally major disadvantage for precast concrete applications.
not within the paper’s scope) and percentages in this paper
are expressed as replacement by mass of cement in the con- Silica fume
crete binder. Our aim is to help precast concrete producers use
supplementary cementitious materials to comply with stringent Silica fume is a byproduct from the production of ferrum-sil-
carbon footprint requirements and recommendations without icon alloy and is often used as a supplementary cementitious
sacrificing hardened or fresh concrete performance. material because it enhances the compressive strength and
durability of concrete. These benefits are sometimes offset by
Common types of supplementary increased water demand owing to the superfine nature of silica
cementitious materials particles. (Silica fume particles are 32 times finer than ordinary
portland cement particles.2) The use of silica fume results in
Supplementary cementitious materials have varying degrees more cohesive concrete; it is likely that concrete made with sil-
of cementitious and pozzolanic reactivities, which provide the ica fume will have a higher slump to maintain workability simi-
chemical basis for concrete strength development. Cemen- lar to that of a comparable ordinary portland cement concrete.
titious materials undergo hydration to facilitate significant
strength development as a standalone material, whereas The first documented use of silica fume in concrete and mor-
pozzolanic materials can exhibit cementitious properties in tar was in 1946 as part of a U.S. patent claiming that silica
the presence of an additional activator. Pozzolans react during fume integration improved fresh mortar properties.2 Since
hydration with portlandite, a product of portland cement then, use of silica fume has become more common, and the
hydration, to form calcium-silicate-hydrate products, which proportions of silica fume in blended cement have increased.
directly facilitate hardened concrete properties.
Slag cement
Supplementary cementitious materials may be classified as
cementitious or pozzolanic (or may exhibit characteristics Slag cement has been employed in concrete as lightweight
of both) depending on their inherent chemical or physical aggregate, or as a part of blended cements. It is derived from
properties. The inherent properties of selected commonly used silicates and aluminosilicates of calcium that occur with molten
supplementary cementitious materials are discussed in the iron in blast furnace.3 Concrete that contains slag cement has
following subsections. increased workability, which corresponds to reduced water
demand with increasing cement replacement. As with fly
Fly ash ash, when slag cement replaces a high percentage of ordinary
portland cement, it extends the setting time of concrete unless
Fly ash is a coal combustion residual captured via flue gases chemical accelerators are properly used. Slag is now being
exiting the combustion chamber of a power generation fa- used in ternary systems (binders developed with two secondary
cility. Fly ash for use in concrete is separated into two main cementitious materials in addition to OPC), typically with silica
classifications, Class C and Class F, which are defined by the fume, which serves to offset the early-age strength reduction
coal source and the temperature at which it was burned. Class associated with the use of slag cement in concrete.
C fly ashes come from the combustion of low-rank types of
coal (such as lignite or subbituminous coal) and exhibit both Natural pozzolans
cementitious and pozzolanic properties. Class F fly ashes are
produced from high-rank types of coal (such as anthracite The term natural pozzolan has become a catchall for a large
or bituminous coal). The high temperatures achieved during variety of reactive materials that bolster concrete strength de-
firing of high-rank coal results in fly ash that exhibits only velopment, but the terminology originates from the region of
pozzolanic properties. Italy where volcanic ash deposits were first used for cement-
ing purposes. Rice husk ash, which is byproduct of processing
From a chemical perspective, the main distinction between rice, is an example of a natural pozzolan used in concrete
the two classes is that Class F has a maximum calcium oxide applications.

The chemical compositions of natural pozzolans vary by type, exhaust temperatures, the type of metal alloy produced, and
but most natural pozzolans contain high amounts of silica, as the fuel source.2
well as amounts of alumina, iron, and other trace elements.
These reactive elements present in natural pozzolans react Because silica fume has a large surface area, air-entraining
with portlandite, the product of cement hydration, to form admixture dosages in the presence of silica fume are typically
calcium silicate hydrate and other complex concrete hydration 125% to 150% of the dosage used in traditional concrete.2
compounds. The magnitude of pozzolanic reactivity of natural Despite the need for a larger air-entraining admixture dosage,
pozzolans varies widely because it depends on the source of Pigeon et al.15 found that the dosage and integration type for
the material and the chemical composition of the finished silica fume do not influence the air-void distribution, develop-
product for use in concrete. Amorphous silica reacts more ment, or stability in concrete.
readily with portlandite than crystalline silica, and natural
pozzolans have high amounts of amorphous silica. Because slag cement has a lower specific gravity than that of
ordinary portland cement (approximately 2.90 versus 3.15),
Implications for concrete mixture its use allows for better packing and an increased paste vol-
proportions ume fraction.16 Slag has cementitious properties that make it
beneficial for use in concrete and mortar applications. Its fine
Supplementary cementitious material structure makes it useful as a lightweight aggregate, supple-
properties mentary cementitious material, and component of blended
cement. Slag combines with water during the hydration
The introduction of supplementary cementitious materials in process to form cementitious hydration products similar to
a concrete mixture design will substantially improve paste those produced with fly ash.17 Slag cement has a high calci-
packing because the particles are, on average, finer than or- um content so it behaves similarly to Class C fly ash when
dinary portland cement particles.4–7 Improved packing allows introduced into concrete mixture designs.18 Depending on the
for better flow and finishing of the concrete, which could lead fineness and proportion of slag cement used in the mixture
to improved strength and durability properties. Particles of fly design, the dosage of air-entraining admixture will need to be
ash produced immediately before use are smaller than ordinary adjusted. Because of the differences in the material properties
portland cement particles.8–10 Fly ash that is stored for later use of slag and ordinary portland cement, it is expected that the
in concrete may increase in particle size due to particle agglom- use of slag cement in concrete mixture designs will require a
eration and hydration in storage. The particles of fly ash can be higher air-entraining admixture dosage.
divided into two types: solid and hollow. The hollow particles,
which reduce the bulk density of fly ash, are considered ceno- Natural pozzolans exhibit a variety of mean particle diameters.
spheres and can often float on water. Larger cenospheres can Metakaolin is an especially fine natural pozzolan, with particle
contain smaller fly ash particles; because of this, fly ash is less diameters of 0.0002 in. (5 μm) typically used in concrete appli-
dense than ordinary portland cement. The specific gravity of fly cations.19 Greater fineness equates to a lower specific gravity
ash is near 2.30, whereas the specific gravity of ordinary port- and a less-dense material, which allows for a volume increase
land cement is 3.15.11 This increased specific gravity of fly ash of the paste contents. Rice husk ash with mean particle diame-
is helpful because it increases the paste content for a given wa- ters of 0.0002 to 0.0037 in. (95 μm) is suitable for use in con-
ter-to-cementitious material ratio w/cm of concrete made with crete.20,21 The upper end of that range was used in experimental
fly ash relative to concrete without fly ash. The increased paste laboratory-based mixture designs.21 The rice husk ash used in
fraction helps improve concrete cohesiveness and workability. concrete is pulverized to achieve the desired particle size.
The inclusion of fly ash in concrete mixture design will affect
the air-entraining admixture dosage by chemical composition. Different types of natural pozzolan materials will have differ-
Class F fly ash is typically associated with more air loss than ent impacts on specific concrete properties. For example, the
Class C fly ash and will therefore need to be supplemented with impact that a given natural pozzolan will have on air-entraining
greater amounts of air-entraining admixture to maintain desired admixture dosage can be taken as a function of the fineness and
air levels in concrete.12 composition of the natural pozzolan used. Rice husk ash is an
example of a natural pozzolan that requires a high air-entrain-
Silica fume is one of the finest supplementary cementitious ing admixture dosage when used in concrete, with the amount
materials.2,13,14 Most silica fume particles are less than 1% the of air-entraining admixture required increasing as the percent-
size of cement particles. In addition to being very fine, silica age of rice husk ash in the concrete mixture is increased.22
fume particles are also smooth, spherical, and glassy, unlike
slag and fly ash particles. The specific gravity of silica fume Water demand
is approximately 2.2,2 and any variations in its specific gravity
can be attributed to variations in its nonsilica components. Concrete made with fly ash requires less water than concrete
Silicon dioxide is colorless, so the nonsilica components also made with only ordinary portland cement,23 which allows for
determine the coloring of silica fume. Dark-colored silica better paste flow and greater adhesion to aggregates. Collec-
fumes typically have a higher proportion of carbon, but color tively, this behavior in conjunction with the spherical surface
is also affected by production factors such as furnace and properties (often called the ball-bearing effect as the particle

surface smoothness acts as ball bearings within the paste) Several natural pozzolans absorb greater amounts of water
displayed by fly ash, generally facilitates higher slump and than ordinary portland cement absorbs, allowing for better
increases compressive strength capacity. With the inclusion of finishing and more cohesive concrete, which improves con-
fly ash and high-range water-reducing admixtures (HRWRAs) crete consolidation and flow properties. Natural pozzolans
in concrete mixture designs, the volume of water can be are also credited with reducing bleeding and segregation in
reduced by 15% to 40% without affecting the strength or fresh fresh concrete. In concrete made with natural pozzolans,
properties of concrete.11 water demand will sometimes be reduced to maintain slump.
Alternatively, Hoffman et al.21 varied the proportions of
When concrete mixtures contain silica fume, determining the cement based on the silicon content of the supplementary
water demand can be complicated. When dosages of silica cementitious materials to maintain a constant w/cm of 0.6
fume were 5% or less, Sellevold and Radjy24 found that water for their concrete mixtures rather than altering the amount
demand was slightly reduced. However, when dosages of of mix water. Coarse types of natural pozzolans may need
silica fume are higher than 5%, water demand can increase to be ground to a fineness suitable for incorporation into
dramatically.25 Silica fume is an ultra-fine powder, with concrete. Otherwise, these coarse natural pozzolans may
mean particle diameters of 0.000004 to 0.000008 in. (0.1 to increase water demand. For example, if pumice, a particular-
0.2 μm). It is 32 times finer than ordinary portland cement, ly coarse lightweight natural pozzolan, is used in increasing
which is why it requires more water to hydrate sufficiently.2 proportions at a constant w/cm, the volume of water needed
At low dosages (5% or less), silica fume particles can pack for sufficient hydration of the material will increase, and
tightly and occupy space around cement particles otherwise workability will therefore decrease.
occupied by water. At higher dosages, when there is less
cement available to react with water, silica fume hydration Fresh properties affecting precast
begins to dominate water demand and thus more water is concrete fabricationWorkability
required. For this reason, the American Concrete Institute
(ACI) recommends in ACI PRC-234R-06, Guide for the Use Because the workability of concrete is directly influenced by
of Silica Fume in Concrete,2 that concrete made with silica the hydration mechanics of cementitious materials, the use of
fume be dosed with HRWRAs to ensure optimal concrete supplementary cementitious materials can have significant im-
workability for a given w/cm. Rosenberg and Gaidis26 found plications for a given concrete mixture’s fresh properties such
that silica fume in the presence of HRWRAs can enhance the as slump, slump flow, air content, and finishing properties. The
paste-aggregate bond, which results in increased strength. For fineness and chemical composition of cementitious materials
high-performance concrete (HPC) applications, w/cm should affect the proportion of water needed in a concrete mixture to
be maintained rather than adjusted in the presence of silica achieve the desired fresh properties. Fly ash has been found to
fume; thus, HRWRAs are commonly used in HPC applica- improve workability in concrete, with the degree of improve-
tions to compensate for the increased water demand of the ment increasing as the dosage of fly ash in the mixture increas-
supplementary cementitious material.27 es.9 Unless processed to a fineness similar to that of silica fume,
fly ash will hydrate sufficiently and will not require additional
Studies have shown that the workability of concrete made water to maintain workability properties.5
with slag cement is greater than the workability of concrete
with the same w/cm that is made without slag cement.28,29 ACI ACI PRC-237R-07, Self-Consolidating Concrete,33 recom-
PCR-233R-17, Guide to the Use of Slag Cement in Concrete mends fly ash dosages of 20% to 40% to maximize slump
and Mortar,16 estimates a potential water demand reduction flow values in self-consolidating concrete (SCC). Moham-
of 3% to 5% at a given slump for concrete containing slag medi et al.34 targeted 25 in. (635 mm) slump flow in their
cement when compared with concrete without slag cement; ultra-high-strength concrete (UHSC) to ensure sufficient
however, the effect of slag cement on water demand in a workability for pumping and precast concrete bridge girder
concrete mixture will depend on the amount and quality of finishing. The final concrete mixture designs generated from
the slag cement used, as well as the aggregate properties of the research included silica fume and fly ash, both with dos-
the concrete mixture. Alkali-activated slag cement allows for ages less than 15%, and achieved 2-day strengths of 12,038
a further water reduction at a set slump value in concrete by psi (83.002 MPa). Chen et al.35 reported air content, slump,
stabilizing heavy metals that inhibit ordinary portland cement and unit weight for concrete mixture designs using 20% to
hydration.30,31 Pastes made with a combination of slag cement 80% Class F fly ash and a range of w/cm (Table 1). Obla et
and ordinary portland cement exhibit rheological properties al.36 compared the use of silica fume and fly ash in concrete
that result in better dispersion of particles in the binder matrix and found that slump values did not vary substantially or
when compared to ordinary portland cement paste and thus with a discernible pattern (Table 2). Obla et al. varied the w/
higher fluidity, without the addition of HRWRAs.32 In fact, cm in their mixture design to account for the presence of fly
concrete mixtures with slag cement are expected to require ash.
lower dosages of water reducers.32 As the amount of slag
cement in a concrete mixture design is increased, a set amount Unlike fly ash, silica fume, may greatly reduce workability if the
of retarder will have a proportionally greater retarding effect concrete mixture is not sufficiently dosed with HRWRAs.5 Abu-
on the concrete. baker and Ghanim13 found that, at a constant w/cm of 0.5 and

Table 1. Fresh concrete properties made with Class F fly ash
Target 28-day
LOI, % w/cm Fly ash, % Air content, % Slump, in. Unit weight, lb/ft3
compressive strength, psi
0.72 0 2.5 6.3 146
0.66 20 2.6 6.7 147
0.56 40 2.2 7.1 144

3000 0
0.45 50 2.9 7.5 143
0.44 60 2.5 8.3 142
0.27 80 3.1 9.1 142
0.60 0 2.1 8.7 145
0.55 20 2.7 8.3 147
0.48 40 2.6 6.3 147

4350 5
0.40 50 3.3 9.4 144
0.36 60 3.2 9.1 145
0.34 80 3.4 10.2 135
0.60 0 2.1 8.7 145
0.55 20 2.6 8.7 146
0.48 40 2.9 8.7 144

4350 8
0.40 50 3.7 9.1 140
0.36 60 3.5 8.7 141
0.36 80 6.6 9.8 126
Source: Data from Chen, Shih, Wu, and Lin (2019).

Note: LOI = loss on ignition; w/cm = water-cementitious material ratio. 1 in. = 25.4 mm; 1 lb/ftn = 16.01 kg/m3.
Table 2. Effects of silica fume and ultrafine Class F fly ash on concrete slump and compressive strength
Admixture dosage Fly ash, Slump, Compressive strength, psi

w/cm
and type % in. 1 day 3 days 7 days 28 days 91 days 182 days
Control (Type I cement) 0.40 0 7.9 2000 3600 4900 5300 6700 6900
8% silica fume 0.40 0 7.5 1900 3800 5900 6900 7800 8200
Ultra-fine fly ash 0.36 8 6.5 2100 4200 5400 6500 7900 8100
Ultra-fine fly ash 0.38 12.1 7.3 1800 4500 5300 6500 7800 9200
Source: Data from Obla, Hill, Thomas, and Hooton (2001).

Note: The ultrafine fly ash had a mean particle diameter < 0.00028 in. (7 μm). w/cm = water-cementitious material ratio. 1 in. = 25.4 mm; 1 psi = 6.895 kPa.
without the addition of HRWRAs, the workability of concrete Abubaker and Ghanim reported slumps of 3.7, 2.0, 1.5, and
made with silica fume decreased significantly, and at a consis- 0.9 in. (95, 50, 38, and 23 mm), respectively. The reduction in
tent rate as the dosage of silica fume increased and the amount workability is a well-established result of using silica fume in
of cement available for hydration decreased. With a constant w/ concrete mixture designs, owing to the significantly increased
cm of 0.5 and silica fume dosages of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%, fineness of silica fume relative to ordinary portland cement.

In a study of several types of SCC and HPC mixtures Slag only slightly improves workability of concrete.28 ACI PRC-
that contained 7% silica fume or 20% fly ash and nor- 233R-1716 recognizes that slag cement will generally improve the
mal-strength or high-early-strength HRWRAs, and had a workability and flow of concrete, sufficient for water reductions
w/cm of 0.28, 0.33, or 0.38, Hwang et al.37 recorded slump of at least 3% to 5%. Tinnea et al.38 reported that slump values
flow, unit weight, and air content values immediately after for concrete made with a w/cm of 0.36 decreased as dosages
mixing and after the concrete was allowed to stand for 30 of slag increased, with mixtures having minor variations in air
minutes (Table 3). The investigators found that workabil- content and unit weight (Table 4). In that investigation, the base
ity remained constant across the mixtures. Unit weight for binder for the concrete also contained 3% silica fume and 10%
the SCC mixtures did not vary other than decreasing with fly ash by weight, and the inclusion of those ingredients further
increasing w/cm. Unit weight was predictably higher for the complexified hydration processes and thus changed initial work-
HPC mixtures. Data on air content were the most varied in ability. In addition, Tinnea et al. reported setting times for their
the study, with variations across the mixtures designs as well test samples. The increasing dosages of slag had little impact
as 30 minutes after the initial reading. on setting time; the setting time for the mixture made with 5%
Table 3. Air content, slump flow, unit weights, and comprehensive strengths of self-consolidating and
high-performance concretes made with 7% silica fume or 20% Class F fly ash at 10 and 40 minutes
Unit weight, Compressive
Air content, % Slump flow, in.
lb/ft3 strength, psi
Silica Fly ash,
Mixture HRWRA w/cm 18-hour
fume, % % 10 40 10 40 18-hour
steam 28 days 56 days
minutes minutes minutes minutes air cure
cure
Normal
SCC 0.28 0 20 1.7 1.8 26.4 26.4 5700 4000 10,300 12,000
strength
High early
SCC 0.28 7 0 2.2 1.7 26.2 26.8 8600 4500 12,200 13,200
strength
Normal
SCC 0.28 7 0 2.8 2.7 26.8 26.0 8300 3600 13,100 13,100
strength
High early
SCC 0.28 0 20 0.7 0.7 26.0 27.6 4900 2800 8100 9300
strength
Normal
SCC 0.38 7 0 1.8 2 27.6 27.2 4900 2600 8100 9100
strength
High early
SCC 0.38 0 20 2.3 1.7 26.4 27.2 4500 2900 7800 9300
strength
Normal
SCC 0.38 0 20 0.7 0.4 26.4 25.2 3900 2600 7700 9100
strength
High early
SCC 0.38 7 0 0.9 0.8 26.0 27.6 7300 4200 10,000 10,300
strength
Normal
SCC1 0.33 7 0 3.8 2.2 26.4 24.8 7500 3800 11,900 12,200
strength
Normal
SCC2 0.33 7 0 3.7 3.9 26.4 24.0 7000 4100 11,700 11,900
strength
Normal
SCC3 0.33 7 0 3.9 3.5 26.4 24.4 7300 4200 11,900 12,600
strength
High early
HPC 0.28 7 0 1.6 1.3 7.5 8.7 9300 7400 12,000 13,200
strength
High early
HPC 0.38 0 20 1.8 1.7 7.5 7.1 3500 3500 7100 7500
strength
Source: Data from Hwang, Khatib, Lee, Lee, and Khayat (2012).
Note: HPC = high-performance concrete; HRWRA = high-range water-reducing admixture; SCC = self-consolidating concrete.
HRWRA dosage 6.55 L/m3; 2HRWRA dosage 6.6 L/m3; 3HRWRA dosage 7.5 L/m3
1

Table 4. Air content, slump, and unit weight of con- which may extend setting duration in ambient conditions.41
crete made with slag Extended setting times can pose challenges for concrete
applications in which turnover of equipment or time-sensitive
Air content, Unit weight,
Slag, % Slump, in. placement is a concern.
% lb/ft3
0 3.3 7.5 148 When fly ash hydrates, the process releases approximately
50% less heat than when ordinary portland cement is hydrat-
5 4.0 6.6 146 ed.42 The hydration of fly ash occurs at a slower rate than the
10 3.8 5.6 146 hydration of ordinary portland cement, which extends setting
time.43 Accelerators may be used to help offset the extensions
15 4.1 6.0 146 in setting times; their use is often advised in precast concrete
Source: Data from Tinnea, Tinnea, and Kuder (2017). fabrication because extended setting times slow the turnover
Note: 1 in. = 25.4 mm; 1 lb/ft3 = 16.01 kg/m3. rate of formwork use. In their study of the fresh properties
of concrete mixtures made with differing proportions of
slag was the same as that for the control mixture, whereas the fly ash, Chen et al.35 reported setting times for each of the
mixtures with 10% and 15% slag experienced a 20-minute delay mixture designs and concluded that loss on ignition (LOI)
in both ambient and accelerated curing conditions. plays a greater role in determining setting time than fly ash
dosage does. The setting times for the controls were 5 hours
The workability of concrete made with natural pozzolans 20 minutes and 3 hours 20 minutes. By comparison, with the
depends on the specific type of natural pozzolan used in the exception of a concrete mixture made with 80% Class F fly
mixture design.39 Lam et al.40 measured slump values for ash, all the concrete mixtures tested by Chen et al. set in less
concrete mixtures with up to 50% of an unspecified natural than 14 hours, at most 3.63 times the control setting time.
pozzolan containing 48.7% Si02 in the binder. Slump in the With sufficient dosages of setting agents or accelerators, the
concrete samples did not substantially change as the supple- setting times could be further reduced for precast concrete
mentary cementitious material dosages increased or as the applications. While the current limitations of precast concrete
w/cm was adjusted (Table 5). fabrication inhibit production of concrete with 14-hour setting
times, accelerators may reduce setting time so that concrete
Setting time can feasibly be made with high proportions of fly ash, and the
added benefit of providing precision to setting time.
When supplementary cementitious materials are used in
concrete, the hydration processes become more complicated, Silica fume works to increase the rate at which heat is re-
leased throughout the hydration reaction, but the total heat re-
Table 5. Slump for concrete made with unspecified leased may be less than the amount released when concrete is
natural pozzolans made without silica fume.6 The reduction in the heat released
during the hydration process does not affect the rate at which
w/cm Natural pozzolan, % Slump, in. concrete made with silica fume hardens.2 In fact, silica fume
0 5.9
is often used in conjunction with fly ash or slag to mitigate the
extended setting times associated with those materials.44,45
10 5.9
The use of slag cement typically extends the setting time of
20 5.9
0.33 concrete, especially when the proportion of slag cement in the
30 5.9 concrete mixture is greater than 25%. The extent of the setting
time delay is dependent on the amount of slag cement in the
40 5.5
mixture, the w/cm, concrete temperatures, surrounding tem-
50 5.5 peratures, and the properties of the portland cement used.46
Incorporating slag cement in a concrete mixture lowers the
0 5.5
heat of hydration in the concrete, extending the setting time
10 5.7 in the absence of external heat sources during curing. Hogan
and Meusel47 found that initial setting times for concrete made
20 5.5
0.46
with 50% slag cement were extended by an hour at room tem-
30 5.1 perature but were not noticeably extended at curing tempera-
tures of 85ºF (29ºC) or higher when compared to their control
40 5.1 concrete made with 100% portland cement binder.
50 5.1
The use of natural pozzolans may increase the setting time
Source: Data from Lam, Hung, Bulgakov, Aleksandrova, and Larsen
of concrete because the heat of hydration is reduced and the
(2020).
pozzolanic reaction is delayed when compared to both ordinary
Note: w/cm = water-cementitious material ratio. 1 in. = 25.4 mm.
portland cement concrete and concrete made with other supple-

mentary cementtiouts materials. According to Kosmatka et al.,48 Kara De Maeijer et al.5 examined the extent to which fly ash
most natural pozzolans will lower the heat of hydration, which fineness affects strength in concrete (Table 6). The concrete
corresponds to an overall reduction in heat rise of the concrete. mixtures in this study were made with two types of Class F
Natural pozzolans have been found to be effective admixtures fly ash with different mean particle diameters Dg (for FA1, Dg
for controlling temperature gain in concrete.49–51 However, the < 0.00037 in. [9.3 μm]; for FA2: Dg < 0.00018 in. [4.6 μm])
reduced heat of hydration is associated with extended setting with either CEM I high-strength ordinary portland cement or
times and, therefore, reduced early-age strength gain. Zhang CEM III blended slag cement. The effect of fly ash fineness
and Malhotra52 found that metakaolins may increase tempera- on the rate of strength development is more apparent in the
ture gain, conversely to other natural pozzolans. Metakaolin mixtures batched with CEM I portland cement, but the data
is a particuluarly reactive natural pozzolan, likely owing to its are also more informative of the strength-base deficiencies
fineness, with a mean particle diameter of 0.00004 to 0.00008 associated with slag cement when compared to ordinary
in. (1 to 2 μm), and its chemical composition of roughly 95% portland cement.55 While their data are limited and they
SiO2 and Al2O3. Care must be taken when adjusting curing maintained a high w/cm without consideration for workability,
temperatures for concrete mixtures containing supplementary Kara De Maeijer et al.5 observed a slight increase in concrete
cementitious materials, especially natural pozzolans. Natural compressive strength when FA2 was mixed in a binary binder
pozzolans have higher hydration energies than ordinary port- with ordinary portland cement. The mixture dosed with FA1
land cement, and thus require higher curing temperatures. An had 10% less fly ash content than the mixture with FA2, and
increase in curing temperature may be required to account for the FA1 mixture had lower compressive strength. Typically,
the catalyst action necessary for the reaction between ordinary higher fly ash dosages inhibit early-age strength development
portland cement and natural pozzolans. more than low dosages. In the study by Kara De Maeijer et
al., the concrete made with 25% FA2 gained strength at a
Assessment of compressive strength more pronounced rate in the absence of slag cement. The 25%
development FA2 mixture design matched the 28-day strength of the con-
trol mixture design whereas the mixture designs made with
Impact of material fineness CEM III or FA1 did not. Both types of fly ash in this study are
finer than typical fly ash (Dg = 0.00059 to 0.0014 in. [15 to 35
Finer supplementary cementitious materials typically pro- μm]). While Kara De Maeijer et al. did not report compressive
vide more benefits to the strength development in concrete strength values earlier than 7 days, it is promising that even
than their coarse counterparts.7 For example, finer fly ash at replacement values of 15% to 25%, the fly ash concrete de-
has been found to increase strength more than coarse fly ash, veloped strength at a similar, or better, rate than an equivalent
and in proportion with the amount of fly ash passing a no. ordinary portland cement concrete.
325 (45 μm) sieve.53 Fly ash can be ground or pulverized to
increase the proportion of fine particles in the binder, which Obla et al.36 compared the compressive strengths of concrete
hydrate more readily and pack more efficiently to allow for containing fine fly ash, separated to a maximum particle
a strengthened internal matrix, bolstering strength develop- diameter of 0.00027 in. (7 μm), and concrete with 8% silica
ment.54 fume. The findings from this investigation support the use
Table 6. Effects of fly ashes of varying fineness on concrete compressive strength
Compressive strength, psi

Concrete type Fly ash fineness Fly ash, %
7 days 28 days 56 days 91 days
n/a 0 8400 10,200 10,700 11,900
Portland cement FA1 15 7300 9100 10,400 11,700

CEM I FA2 25 7500 10,200 12,000 12,800
FA1 + FA2 25 7300 9700 11,700 11,900
n/a 0 6700 9600 10,000 10,600
Blast furnace slag FA1 15 5700 8700 9600 10,700

cement CEM III/A FA2 25 5500 8700 9600 10,600
FA1 + FA2 25 5400 8600 9600 10,200
Source: Data from Kara De Maeijer, Craeye, Snellings, Kazemi-Kamyab, Loots, Janssens, and Nuyts (2020).
Note: water-cementitious material ratio = 0.45 for all mixtures. FA1 = Class F fly ash with mean particle diameter Dg < 0.00037 in. (9.3 μm); FA2 Class F
fly ash with Dg < 0.00018 in. (4.6 μm); n/a = not applicable. 1 psi = 6.895 kPa.

of low proportions of fly ash as a replacement for ordinary from landfills. However, dosages of many supplementary
portland cement. A mixture with 12.3% ultra-fine fly ash cementitious materials must be limited or further supplement-
showed an 80% strength increase over the control at 24 hours ed with chemical admixtures to maximize concrete strength
(Table 2). In addition to testing early-age strength, Obla et al. development for early-age and long-term performance. When
monitored the long-term strength development in the con- used in large proportions, silica fume can reduce concrete
crete. At a 0.32 w/cm, concrete with 12.3% fly ash exhibited durability and strength development.2 If high dosages of fly
165% the strength of 12.2% fly ash concrete made with a 0.35 ash are used, the w/cm of the concrete mixture design should
w/cm at 24 hours. Both of these mixtures reached 182-day be reduced to maintain the desired workability and strength
strengths of ~9000 psi (62 MPa), but the reduction of the w/ properties in the concrete.56 When fly ash dosages are in-
cm and a subsequent increased HRWRA dosage allowed for creased, fly ash begins to dominate the hydration process,
an increase in the early-age – and overall – strength develop- which the rate for which occurs slower than the hydration of
ment off the 12.3% fly ash mixture relative to all the tested portland cement, which works to slow the curing process in
mixture designs. The mixture made with a w/cm of 0.32 with concrete and limits early-age strength development as the heat
a corresponding increase in the HRWRA dosage to maintain of hydration of fly ash is lower than ordinary portland cement,
workability exceeded the minimum high-early compressive especially compared with ordinary portland cement concrete.
strength of 3500 psi (24 MPa) within 24 hours after fresh
concrete placement. Reducing the amount of mixture water Naik and Ramme57 examined early-age strength development
available to react with fly ash allows for cement to dominate properties in fly ash concretes, testing compressive strength
the hydration process and increases high-early strength. All at 11 hours. The investigators batched six mixes with a 100%
three specimens made with ~12% Class F fly ash exhibited ordinary portland cement control and Class C fly ash dosages
similar ultimate strengths, which indicates that further reduc- of 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%. They reduced the w/cm
tions of w/cm for high-volume fly ash concrete may result in of the mixtures in proportion to the fly ash content of each
satisfactory early-age and ultimate strength development. mixture design to offset early-age strength reduction that
would have otherwise occurred due to the presence of fly ash.
Impact of increasing supplementary Naik and Ramme found that early-age strength developed
cementitious materials dosages fastest in samples made with fly ash dosages of 20%, and they
concluded that the use of Class C fly ash improves early-age
Increased dosages of supplementary cementitious materials in (and overall) strength when limited to dosages of 30% (Table
concrete can satisfy sustainability initiatives and divert waste 7). In this study, all mixtures made with fly ash exhibited
Table 7. Effects of Class C fly ash on early-age strength development in concrete

Class C fly
Curing regimen w/cm 11 13 19 22 26 14 28
ash, % 3 days 7 days
hours hours hours hours hours days days
0.45 0 n/a n/a 2720 2790 n/a 3235 3750 4210 4774
All cylinders 0.41 10 n/a n/a 2950 3180 n/a 3800 4155 4685 5395
covered with
plastic sheet 0.38 15 n/a n/a 3330 3750 n/a 4095 5520 6615 6830
and subjected to
0.36 20 n/a n/a 4170 4140 n/a 4890 5640 6175 8080
open-air curing
conditions 0.34 25 n/a n/a 3860 3400 n/a 5060 6315 7075 8435
0.33 30 n/a n/a 3110 3290 n/a 4475 6170 7305 8365
0.44 0 3180 3980 n/a n/a 5210 5890 6445 7020 7820
0.39 10 3980 4460 n/a n/a 5730 7160 7660 8810 9610
Each cylinder
individually 0.39 15 3900 5090 n/a n/a 6570 7480 8160 8890 10,025
wrapped in plastic
and secured with 0.37 20 4300 4850 n/a n/a 6330 7240 8180 8830 9810
a rubber band
0.36 25 3580 4140 n/a n/a 5890 6840 7640 8535 9530
0.35 30 3500 3900 n/a n/a 5850 7080 7880 9070 9880
Source: Data from Naik and Ramme (1990).

Note: w/cm = water-cementitious material ratio; n/a = not available; 1 psi = 6.895 kPa.

greater initial compressive strength than the control mixture. 8% LOI at the same replacement percentage as the 5% LOI
Additionally, all mixture designs made with fly ash reached used, and the time between initial and final set was extended
higher 28-day strengths when compared with the respective for the 8% LOI, largely because of set retardation that occurs
control concrete. with high dosages of fly ash and HRWRAs. Mixture designs
with larger proportions of fly ash exhibited increased work-
Chen et al.35 compared compressive strengths in concrete ability, so the investigators reduced the w/cm for the mixtures
made with Class F fly ashes with different LOI values over with higher percentages of fly ash.
the course of 1 year; additionally, they examined the strength
development in concrete made with varying dosages (0% to Impact of accelerated curing
80%) for the different LOI fly ashes. LOI can be taken as an
approximation for the extent of carbonation in materials used Accelerated curing methods have been found to be effective
for cementing purposes, with high losses being indicative of ways to offset early-age strength reduction in concrete made
poorer materials. In this investigation, fly ash with a low LOI with fly ash. While they only reported 28-day compressive
value boosted the ultimate compressive strength of concrete, strength, Dong et al.58 examined the extent to which a heated
even when the fly ash dosages were high (Table 8). High lime-water bath would bolster ultimate strength development
dosages of this type of fly ash were associated with low early in concrete made with silica fume and increasing dosages of
strengths. However, the slow hydration of the fly ash allowed fly ash (Table 9). The investigators used accelerated cur-
for comparable 28-day strengths in the various specimens ing methods, with all of the test mixtures subjected to 95%
using this type of fly ash. Among the specimens with 5% LOI, relative humidity. They found that concrete mixtures with
the one with 60% fly ash had the highest ultimate strength. up to 70% fly ash that were subjected to a 90ºC lime bath
The investigators also found that 8% LOI substantially ex- for 48 hours after setting had 28-day compressive strengths
tended setting times. The initial setting time was longer for equivalent to the 28-day strength of the control. Dong et al.
Table 8. Effects of high-volume Class F fly ash dosages on concrete compressive strength
Target 28-day Compressive strength, psi

LOI, Fly
compressive w/cm
% ash, % 1 day 3 days 7 days 28 days 56 days 91 days 182 days 365 days
strength, psi
0.72 0 700 2200 2900 3800 4400 4400 4900 4900
0.66 20 700 2000 2800 3600 4900 5100 5300 5800
0.56 40 500 1500 2200 3600 4400 5200 6500 7500

2900 0
0.45 50 500 1500 2200 3600 4400 5500 6500 7300
0.44 60 0 700 1500 2600 3500 4400 5800 6200
0.27 80 400 1300 2200 3200 5100 6400 8000 9100
0.60 0 1100 2500 3600 4500 5200 5200 5700 5900
0.55 20 1100 2500 3300 5100 5900 6500 6700 7000
0.48 40 900 2500 3500 5800 6500 7800 8300 9400

5
0.40 50 700 2300 3500 5600 7000 8300 9400 9700
0.36 60 600 1600 2900 5200 5900 7800 9600 9900
0.34 80 600 1500 2300 3800 5800 6500 8100 9300

4350
0.60 0 1100 2500 3600 4500 5200 5200 5700 5900
0.55 20 1000 2800 3500 5100 6100 6200 6200 6400
0.48 40 900 2200 3000 5100 6200 7300 8100 8400

8
0.40 50 600 1600 2200 3800 5200 5800 7300 8100
0.36 60 500 1800 2200 4400 5900 8000 8800 8800
0.36 80 0 300 900 2000 3000 3600 4200 5200
Source: Data from Chen, Shih, Wu, and Lin (2019).

Note: LOI = loss on ignition; w/cm = water-cementitious material ratio. 1 psi = 6.895 kPa.

Table 9. Effects of curing regimens on compressive MPa]). The mixtures in the Dong et al. study had w/cm in the
strength of concrete made with 10% silica fume and range of 0.12 to 0.16, compared with 0.33 to 0.45 in the Naik
varying dosages of Class F fly ash and Ramme study. Naik and Ramme also examined the im-
pacts of accelerated curing on concrete strength development
Curing Class F 28-day compressive in their study. Plant 1 prescribed a curing regime at an average
w/cm
regimen fly ash, % strength, psi temperature of 68ºF (20ºC), whereas the concrete made
0 21,200 at Plant 2 cured at an average temperature of 86ºF (30ºC).
0.16 Plant 2 is heated during the winter months to ensure concrete
20 21,600 placing temperatures of 81ºF (27ºC) while Plant 1 is not. This
27ºC ± 2ºC at
95% relative 30 20,600 heat curing process was deemed to contribute to the increased
humidity 0.14 strength of the concrete prepared in Plant 2 compared to the
50 19,400 concrete prepared in Plant 1 (Table 7).
0.12 70 13,300
Hooton and Titherington61 used accelerated curing pro-
90ºC ± 3ºC in 0 23,400 cesses occurring at 149ºF (65ºC) to achieve high early-age
lime-water compressive strengths of more than 5900 psi (40 MPa) at
20 23,800
bath for 48 0.14 18 hours for ternary concrete mixtures containing 25% slag
hours, then 30 23,400 cement and 8% silica fume (Table 10). The high-tempera-
27ºC ± 2ºC at ture curing process enabled concrete to reach 65% of its
50 22,500
95% relative ultimate reported strength at 56 days. Naito et al.62 found
humidity 0.12 70 18,000 that mixtures with 25% and 34% slag had 24-hour strengths
equal to 90% of their 28-day strengths.
Source: Data from Dong, Tuan, Thanh, Thang, Cu, and Mun (2020).
Note: w/cm = water-cementitious material ratio. 1 psi = 6.895 kPa;
Hwang et al.37 tested a variety of SCC and HPC mixtures
°C = (°F – 32)/1.8.
made with fly ash or silica fume and reported compressive
strength values as well as modulus of elasticity values.
found that concrete containing 30% fly ash reached a 28- They concluded that steam curing provided strength-devel-
day compressive strength of 23.4 ksi (161 MPa), which was opment advantages over air-curing processes (Table 3). All
more than twice the 28-day strength reported for the 30% fly of the mixtures except one (HPC2, made with 20% fly ash)
ash concrete in the study by Naik and Ramme58 (9.9 ksi [68 benefitted substantially from the steam-curing process. In
Table 10. Effects of curing conditions on compressive strength of concrete made with slag and silica fume and a
water-cement ratio of 0.30

Curing regimen Slag, % Silica fume, %
18 hours 7 days 28 days 56 days
Ambient 3500 5500 6800 n/a

0
Accelerated at 65ºC 4500 5500 6500 n/a
Ambient 3700 6600 8600 9300

0 4
Accelerated at 65ºC 5900 6700 8100 8600
Ambient 3500 7200 9700 n/a

8
Accelerated at 65ºC 6500 7400 7800 n/a
Ambient 2600 6200 9100 9600

4
Ambient 2200 7000 8400 9900
Ambient 25 5.6 3800 6500 8700 8800
Ambient 1900 6500 9100 9100

8
Accelerated at 65ºC 5900 7100 8400 9000
Source: Data from Hooton and Titherington (2004).

Note: 1 psi = 6.895 kPa; °C = (°F – 32)/1.8; n/a = not available

general, as the w/cm increased, the modulus of elasticity and pozzolan increased in the normal-strength concrete, with the
compressive strength values decreased. flexural strength at 28 days equaling 500 psi (3.4 MPa) in
the control and 348 psi (2.40 MPa) in concrete made with
Assessment of additional mechanical 50% natural pozzolans. However, the investigators found
properties no clear relationship between natural pozzolan dosage and
flexural strength in the HSC specimens. At 28 days, the
Akhnoukh and Elia63 compared five concrete mixtures made flexural strength of the control was 810 psi (5.6 MPa), with
with Type III portland cement and 20% Class C fly ash and the following values reported for concrete made with natural
10% silica fume, 10% Class C fly ash and 10% silica fume, pozzolan dosages of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% re-
and 15% Class C fly ash and 15% silica fume, and a w/cm spectively: 800, 877, 777, 769, and 587 psi (5.51, 6.05, 5.36,
ranging from 0.15 to 0.20 (Table 11). The results of this study 5.30, and 4.05 MPa). The data from this study indicate that
indicate that there is limited variability between the individual an upper limit exists for beneficial siliceous natural pozzolan
mixtures presented, but rather that ternary systems of silica dosages in the absence of chemical accelerators or admixtures
fume and Class C fly ash behave similarly to each other if and accelerated curing methods.
the overall supplementary cementitious materials dosage is
limited to 30%. In the study by Naito et al.,62 the modulus Lane and Best53 found that in concrete made with Class F fly
of rupture was affected by slag incorporation. However, the ash, the modulus of elasticity and compressive strength were
modulus of elasticity and splitting tensile were not affected, slightly lower at early ages (<24 hours) and markedly higher
even in the mixtures with a high proportion of slag. at later ages when compared with concrete made with ordi-
nary portland cement only. According to Cain,64 The impact
Modulus of elasticity that fly ash has on modulus of elasticity is insignificant when
compared with the impact the material has on compressive
Lam et al.40 studied concrete made with a siliceous natural strength. However, according to ACI, high-volume fly ash
pozzolan in dosages of 10% to 50% at two target 28-day com- concrete has been found to have higher modulus of elasticity
pressive strengths, 5800 and 10,000 psi (40 and 70 MPa). The values than ordinary portland cement concrete.65 If the fly
modulus of elasticity for the 5800-psi concrete was 4400 ksi ash dosage is between 20% and 60%, fly ash can improve the
(30 GPa) for the mixture with ordinary portland cement only elastic modulus of concrete.35
and then decreased at an increasing rate as the natural pozzolan
dosage increased, with the modulus being 3500 ksi (24 GPa) Modulus of rupture
for the mixture with 50% natural pozzolan. In this study, the
modulus of elasticity decreased in the HSC specimens from Akhnoukh and Elia63 reported modulus of rupture values for
5500 ksi (38 GPa) in concrete made with ordinary portland HPC specimens made with silica fume and fly ash with low
cement only to 4700 ksi (32 GPa) in the 50% natural pozzolan w/cm values of 0.15 to 0.20 and 24-hour compressive strength
concrete. In the HSC specimens, the modulus of elasticity did values equal to or greater than 10 ksi (69 MPa). They found
not decrease until the natural pozzolan dosage was 40%. In that the concrete made with supplementary cementitious
fact, the modulus of elasticity of concrete made with 30% natu- materials did not conform to behavior predicted for ordinary
ral pozzolan or less was comparable to that of the control. portland cement concrete (Table 11). The data from this study
did not demonstrate discernible patterns to indicate whether
In the same study, Lam et al.40 observed that flexural strength the combination of silica fume and fly ash substantially affect-
decreased at a regular rate as the proportion of natural ed the modulus of rupture.
Table 11. Mechanical properties and compressive strengths of concrete made with silica fume and Class C fly ash
Silica Modulus of elasticity,

Fly Modulus of rupture, psi Compressive strength, psi
fume, w/cm ksi
ash, %
% Measured Calculated Measured Calculated 1 day 3 days 7 days 14 days 28 days
10 20 0.15 7000 7300 1600 900 11,600 13,200 14,800 15,800 16,200
10 10 0.20 4500 7300 1200 900 10,200 12,300 12,900 13,800 15,200
10 20 0.16 5200 8000 1200 1000 12,000 14,200 14,900 15,700 17,700
15 15 0.15 6100 7400 1600 1000 12,800 13,600 16,200 16,800 17,100
10 20 0.16 6100 7400 1200 1000 12,000 13,100 14,400 15,400 16,000
Source: Data from Akhnoukh and Elia (2019).

Note: Splitting tensile strength was 800 psi for all but the third mixture, which had a splitting tensile strength of 900 psi. w/cm = water-cementitious
material ratio. 1 psi = 6.895 kPa; 1 ksi = 6.895 MPa.

Suda66 reported modulus of rupture values for concrete made Uzal et al.71 reported splitting tensile and compressive
with 5% metakaolin and increasing dosages of slag cement strengths at 3, 7, and 28 days for concrete mixtures con-
(20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%). The findings indicated an upper taining 50% natural pozzolans (natural zeolite, perlite, or
limit to the beneficial slag dosage at a w/cm of 0.35, as the volcanic tuff), 50% fly ash, or 50% slag concrete (Table 12).
concrete made with 30% slag exhibited the highest 28-day All of the supplementary cementitious material concrete
compressive strength and modulus of rupture values. How- samples showed comparable 28-day compressive strengths,
ever, in Suda’s investigation, all the slag dosages increased with the specimens made with zeolite and volcanic tuff
the modulus of rupture relative to the control. The modulus outperforming the control. Only the mixture containing slag
of rupture for the control was 687 psi (4.74 MPa), whereas exhibited 3-day compressive strength comparable to that of
the values for concrete dosed with 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% the control. The natural pozzolans tested by the investiga-
slag were 756, 806, 769, and 743 psi (5.21, 5.56, 5.30, and tors did not significantly affect 7- or 28-day splitting tensile
5.12 MPa), respectively. strengths. The mixtures designs made with zeolite and tuff
developed both compressive and tensile strength slowest
Splitting tensile strength initially while still achieving the highest 28-day compressive
strengths.
According to ACI PRC-232.3R-14,65 fly ash improves the
splitting tensile strength of concrete. In contrast, silica fume Evaluation of precast concrete
and slag do not affect splitting tensile strength.10,67–69 Data performance
from Akhnoukh and Elia63 indicate that the combination of
silica fume and fly ash, in varying proportions totaling 30% Several currently published design guidelines recommend
replacement of cement, does not substantially affect splitting limits on the amounts of supplementary cementitious materi-
tensile strength, with the reported values ranging from 800 to al used in concrete mixtures for precast concrete fabrication.
880 psi (5.5 to 6.1 MPa) (Table 11). ACI PRC-362.1R-1272 outlines optimal use of a variety of
supplementary cementitious materials in concrete for park-
Shaia70 tested concrete in which a large proportion of the ing structure applications and recommends limiting fly ash
ordinary portland cement (55%) was replaced by fly ash or a dosages to 25% to minimize early-age strength reductions.
Jordanian type of natural pozzolans. At 240 days, the con- Several other publications (which will be discussed herein)
crete containing 55% fly ash had the highest splitting tensile have also addressed the use of supplementary cementitious
strength, 203 psi (1.4 MPa), compared with 145 psi (1.0 MPa) materials in concrete mixtures for precast concrete appli-
for natural pozzolan concrete and 188 psi (1.3 MPa) for ordi- cations. Investigators62,73 have found that concrete mixtures
nary portland cement concrete. At 3 and 28 days, the concrete with 20% to 30% fly ash and 25% to 34% slag cement
mixtures containing fly ash or natural pozzolans underper- produce promising compressive strength and workability
formed relative to ordinary portland cement concrete. Both of results. Silica fume dosages are usually limited to no more
the samples containing supplementary cementitious materials than 10%2 because of the role it plays in limiting workability
had splitting tensile strengths of ~43.5 psi (0.3 MPa) at 3 days and the limited benefits to long-term strength it provides
and ~87 psi (0.6 MPa) at 28 days. In comparison, the splitting when used in higher quantities.
tensile strengths were 87 psi (0.6 MPa) at 3 days and ~145
psi (1.0 MPa) at 28 days for the ordinary portland cement Kahn and Kurtis73 batched SCC made with a ternary binder
concrete. with 20% slag and 9% Class F fly ash and a second bind-
Table 12. Splitting tensile and compressive strengths of concretes made with 50% supplementary cementitious
materials
Supplementary Unit Splitting tensile

Air content, Slump, Compressive strength, psi
cementitious w/cm weight, strength, psi
% in.
material lb/ ft3 3 days 7 days 28 days 3 days 7 days 28 days
None 0.61 1.8 5.1 142 2500 3600 4600 300 400 500
Natural zeolite 0.45 1.7 3.5 142 1900 3500 5500 100 300 400
Perlite 0.45 1.5 3.9 145 2000 2500 4200 200 300 400
Volcanic tuff 0.45 1.7 3.7 144 1700 3200 5100 100 300 400
Fly ash 0.45 1.4 3.9 145 1900 3000 4200 200 400 500
Slag 0.45 1.8 3.9 146 2500 3600 4400 200 400 500
Source: Data from Uzal, Turanli, and Mehta (2007).

Note: w/cm = water-cementitious material ratio. 1 in. = 25.4 mm; 1 psi = 6.895 kPa; 1 lb/ft3 = 16.01 kg/m3.

er with 24% slag to examine supplementary cementitious failure modes. The SCC exhibited greater ductility than the
material performance in highly reinforced precast concrete high-early-strength concrete in all cases.
sections. The investigators tested 6 in. (150 mm) thick, 6.0
× 6.0 ft (1.8 ×1.8 m) wall sections and 13.1 ft (4.0 m) bulb- Conclusion
tee (BT-72) beam sections to assess aggregate gradation.
When high reinforcement ratios are used, workability tests The selection of a specific concrete mixture for a project will
such as slump flow and visual stability index do not indicate depend on the types of constituents in the mixture and their
how SCCs made with supplementary cementitious materials proportions, the local availability of materials, and perfor-
perform during casting. Given the high congestion of rein- mance targets for a given application. The research reviewed
forcement, visually inspected finishing properties were com- in this paper shows that the use of supplementary cementi-
promised, and there was extensive evidence of honeycombing tious materials in precast concrete applications can facilitate
around areas containing large amounts of reinforcement. Of compliance with sustainability objectives while also main-
the wall panels tested, the two made with concrete containing taining or improving certain fresh and hardened properties of
slag and fly ash exhibited better finishing properties, owing concrete made with ordinary portland cement.
to the larger aggregates used in the control mixtures and the
blocking that occurred when placing the mixture. To evaluate The following conclusions can be drawn from this paper:
the compressive strength of the wall panels, the investigators
tested 3.0 in. (76-mm) diameter core samples from nine loca- • In precast concrete applications, where design for initial
tions on each wall. The specimens made from concrete with prestress, stripping, and handling are of particular im-
slag and fly ash were stable throughout the nine test points, portance, supplementary cementitious material dosages
whereas the specimen made from the ordinary portland ce- are often limited due to reduced heat of hydration and
ment mixture exhibited large horizontal and vertical variations corresponding lower high-early strengths. Furthermore,
in strength, again likely owing to the larger aggregates and industry standards and models that are based on concrete
lack of flow around the reinforcement. made with ordinary portland cement typically are not eas-
ily adoptable for concrete made with significant fractions
Naito et al.62 examined the impact of slag on high-early- of supplementary cementitious materials. For example,
strength concrete and SCC, particularly for bridge girder equations predicting tensile strength from compressive
applications. For this study, four 35 ft (10 m) long bulb-tee strength do not always apply to supplementary cementi-
girders were produced. Two girders used a conventional high- tious materials concrete because the processes develop at
early-strength concrete, and two used a SCC. They reported different rates than in ordinary portland cement concrete.
fresh and mechanical properties for both of their mixtures
(Table 13), and both mixture designs performed satisfactorily • Supplementary cementitious materials are finer than or-
with respect to ASTM C3974 and ASTM C403.75 Fresh prop- dinary portland cement, which presents opportunities for
erties were within acceptable and expected ranges, with the better particle distribution and packing in cement paste.
high-early-strength concrete exhibiting flow that was lower That typically leads to increased paste-aggregate bond-
than anticipated but still acceptable for bulb-tee applications. ing, which improves rapid strength development.
Both test mixtures reached 24-hour compressive strengths
of 6800 psi (47 MPa), which allowed for the early release of • When supplementary cementitious materials are used, the
prestressing. In addition, both the high-early strength concrete amount of water in the mixture may need to be adjusted
and SCC made by Naito et al. achieved 90% of its ultimate because of the differences in composition and physical
strength at 24 hours, suggesting that it may be beneficial to properties of supplementary cementitious materials com-
increase slag dosages in precast concrete applications. In larg- pared with ordinary portland cement. For example, silica
er mechanical testing, Naito et al. reported that the specimens fume particles are finer than ordinary portland cement
made with the high-early-strength concrete or SCC surpassed particles and the use of silica fume can increase the water
nominal strengths when subjected to conventional girder demand to an impractical level unless HRWRAs are used.
Table 13. Fresh and mechanical properties of concrete made with slag and used for precast concrete bulb-tee
beams
Slag, Unit weight, Air content, Slump, Modulus of Splitting tensile Modulus of
Mixture w/cm
% lb/ft3 % in. elasticity, ksi strength, psi rupture, psi
HESC 34 0.34 5.5 5.4 6.3 5600 600 900
SCC 25 0.32 5.5 5 21.3 5000 725 1000
Source: Data from Naito, Parent, and Brunn (2006).

Note: HESC = high-early-strength concrete; SCC = self-consolidating concrete; w/cm = water-cementitious material ratio. 1 in. = 25.4 mm; 1 psi = 6.895
kPa; 1 ksi = 6.895 MPa; 1 lb/ft3 = 16.01 kg/m3.

• Setting times for concrete made with fly ash, slag, or any Use in Concrete. ASTM C618-23e1. West Conshohock-
of several materials classified as natural pozzolans are en, PA: ASTM International.
often extended because the supplementary cementitious
material dosage reduces the quantity of cement readily 2. ACI (American Concrete Institute). 2012. Guide for the
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Acknowledgments
9. Kumar, S., P. Murthi, P. Awoyera, R. Gobinath, and S. Ku-
This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Department mar. 2022. “Impact Resistance and Strength Development
of Energy under award number DE-FE0031931. This publication of Fly Ash Based Self-Compacting Concrete.” Silicon 14
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of the U.S. government. Neither the U.S. government nor any
agency thereof nor any of their employees make any warranty, 10. Medepalli, S., M. Sharma, and S. Bishnoi. 2020. “Blend-
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for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, dration and Compressive Strength.” Journal of Materials
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any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade
name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessar- 11. ACI. 2018. Report on the Use of Fly Ash in Concrete.
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voring by the U.S. government or any agency thereof. The views
and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state 12. Thomas, M. D. A. 2007. Optimizing the Use of Fly Ash
or reflect those of the U.S. government or any agency thereof. in Concrete. Skokie, IL: Portland Cement Association.
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Strength and Modulus of Elasticity Relationships of Ter-

Zoe N. Lallas is a graduate Abstract
research assistant in the Depart-
ment of Civil, Architectural and This paper presents a comprehensive review of existing
Environmental Engineering at the research examining the effects of supplementary ce-
Illinois Institute of Technology in mentitious materials on age-dependent concrete prop-
Chicago. erties with the most profound implications for precast
concrete production. The review covers the physical
Matthew J Gombeda, PhD, is an and chemical properties of selected types of supple-
assistant professor of Civil mentary cementitious materials, concrete mixture pro-
Engineering in the Department of portions, concrete curing methods, testing procedures,
Civil, Architectural and Environ- and test results related to the fresh properties and
mental Engineering at the Illinois strengths of a range of concrete mixtures. Although the
Institute of Technology. use of supplementary cementitious materials in precast
concrete products is common, the detailed information
Flavia Mendonca, PhD, is an provided in this paper may facilitate more widespread
assistant research professor in the use of these materials to enhance concrete properties
Department of Civil Engineering and comply with sustainability initiatives.
at Valparaiso Univerity in Valpara-
iso, Ind. Keywords
Compressive strength, fly ash, silica fume, slag, sus-

tainability, workability.
Review policy
This paper was reviewed in accordance with the Pre-

cast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s peer-review pro-
cess. The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute is not
responsible for statements made by authors of papers
in PCI Journal. No payment is offered.
Publishing details
This paper appears in PCI Journal (ISSN 0887-9672)

V. 68, No. 6, November–December 2023, and can be
found at https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij68.6-01. PCI
Journal is published bimonthly by the Precast/Pre-
stressed Concrete Institute, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.,
Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60631. Copyright © 2023,
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute.
Reader comments

editor-in-chief Tom Klemens at tklemens@pci.org or
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, c/o PCI Jour-
nal, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 1150, Chicago, IL
60631. J

Experimental investigation
of a novel reinforced concrete
buckling-restrained brace
Shane Oh, Lily A. Polster, Mark P. Manning, Jon Mohle, Brad D. Weldon,
and Yahya C. Kurama
I
n a numerical research study, Oh et al.1 introduced and
investigated a novel reinforced concrete buckling-re-
strained brace for precast concrete lateral load-re-
sisting frame structures in seismic regions. This brace
uses ASTM A7062 reinforcing bars as ductile, yielding
energy-dissipation steel placed inside confinement hoops
(Fig. 1). A predetermined length of the energy-dissipation
bars at each end of the brace is wrapped in plastic sheeting
to prevent bond between the bars and the surrounding con-
crete. When the brace is in tension, these unbonded regions
of the energy-dissipation bars are designed to elongate and
yield without fracture by distributing the elongations of the
bars uniformly over the unbonded length.
■ This paper describes an experimental investigation of An important detail of this brace is the design of a small
a novel precast concrete buckling-restrained brace gap (a few inches wide) between the concrete corbel and
through lateral load testing of one-third-length- brace sections at each end of the brace. When the brace is in
scaled isolated diagonal brace subassemblies. The compression, these gaps allow the energy-dissipation bars
experimental results are compared with design and to shorten and undergo yield reversal (that is, compression
numerical model predictions from a previous study yielding) without the brace concrete coming in contact
of the brace to determine the validity of modeling with the beam and column components of the frame. Fully
assumptions, develop design improvements, and bonded bars that do not cross the end gaps are provided in
determine future research needs. the brace to prevent the energy-dissipation bars from yield-
ing within the middle bonded-region of the brace. These
■ The test results indicate that simplified numerical additional, fully bonded bars are referred to as terminated
models provide good predictions of the brace be- longitudinal reinforcement in the remainder of this paper.
havior prior to failure. The results also highlight the
adjustments that are needed to design and model The reinforcement and gap details in a well-designed brace
the brace to achieve the desired behavior for use in a are intended to ensure that the axial stiffness, strength,
seismic-resisting precast concrete building frame. ductility, and energy dissipation of the brace are governed

Figure 1. Potential use of novel buckling-restrained braces in chevron configuration within a single-story precast concrete frame
unit (additional column, beam, and brace reinforcement are not shown for clarity). Note: 1 in. = 25.4 mm.
predominantly by the behavior of the energy-dissipation bars construction,12–18 the proposed brace may offer the following
undergoing full yield reversals within the unbonded regions advantages:
(including the end gaps), leading to nearly symmetric behav-
ior of the brace under reversed cyclic loading. The gap width • improved cost-effectiveness through single-trade (all–pre-
is designed to be large enough to prevent closure (that is, cast concrete) construction
concrete bearing) over the expected deformation of the brace
in compression, but also small enough to prevent the ener- • elimination of welded or embedded steel plate connec-
gy-dissipation bars from locally buckling over their laterally tions between the brace and the precast concrete frame
unsupported length within this region. A design procedure to components
determine the gap width satisfying these opposing require-
ments is described in Oh et al.1 • the ability to customize the brace details (for example,
length and cross section) at the precast concrete produc-
In precast concrete construction, the proposed brace can be tion plant, thus achieving design-build efficiencies
produced as an integral part of an efficient all-precast concrete
buckling-restrained braced frame story unit (Fig. 1). This unit This paper describes an experimental investigation of the
can be produced flat, transported to the construction site, and proposed brace through reversed-cyclic pseudostatic later-
then stacked upright with grouted seismic dowel splices at al-load testing of four isolated brace subassemblies. These
each floor level—similar to the production, transportation, and tests highlight brace failure mechanisms that have not been
erection of a multi-panel precast concrete structural wall. well simulated in numerical modeling nor well understood
for design. Ultimately, the observed and measured results can
When compared with the possible adaption of commercial form the basis for improved design and modeling approaches
steel buckling-restrained braces3–11 for use in precast concrete that are needed to prevent these failure modes.

Previous research brace, testing its failure limit states, design, and analysis.
Introductory details about the brace and its desired behavior
Despite their popularity in steel buildings, the use of buck- are provided in Oh et al.1 and not repeated herein for brevity.
ling-restrained braced frames as the primary lateral-load-re- In this investigation, four specimens were tested. To ensure
sisting system in concrete construction has been limited realistic specimen designs, the full-scale brace design force
because there is a lack of comprehensive research about these was determined based on the upper range of brace forces for
frames. A few studies have investigated steel buckling-re- the archetype frames analyzed in Oh et al.18 The resulting
strained braces for new and existing cast-in-place concrete full-scale brace design was then scaled down using a length
buildings.19–24 Concrete buckling-restrained braced frame scale of approximately one-third to fit the available laboratory
structures are not included as a primary lateral-load-resist- space. This scale was large enough to allow the specimens to
ing system in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ be cast using concrete and steel reinforcing bar materials with
Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures material stresses and strains equivalent to those of the full-
(ASCE 7-22),25 and only one precast concrete building in the scale design and using common fabrication methods in a pre-
United States has steel buckling-restrained braces.16 cast concrete plant. The one-third-length scale resulted in all
specimen areas (such as reinforcement and brace cross-sec-
For precast concrete construction, previous research has tion areas) to be approximately one-ninth of the correspond-
investigated the use of steel buckling-restrained braces in ing full-scale areas. A one-ninth scale was also used for forces
retrofit applications and nonbuilding structures such as bridge so that the material stresses (force/area) were the same as the
bents.12–15 Guerrero et al.17 conducted shake-table testing corresponding full-scale stresses, which is important because
of two 4-story precast concrete frame specimens designed strains (dimensionless) also remained the same as the full-
using Mexican building practices, with and without steel scale strains. More information about the design of the test
buckling-restrained braces. The investigators compared the specimens is presented in the next section of this paper.
measured dynamic properties and seismic responses of the
specimens and concluded that buckling-restrained braces While the proposed brace is intended to be used within multi-
improve the seismic behavior of precast concrete building story frames, the experimental study described herein focused
frames by reducing damage in the beam and column compo- on the behavior of isolated brace subassemblies. Figures 2
nents and joints. and 3 show the test setup, which was designed to place the
brace specimen in a diagonal configuration and to apply the
In a recent numerical study,18 Oh et al. evaluated the seismic load laterally at the top work point located at the intersection
design of precast concrete building frames with steel buck- between the brace and column centerlines. Based on labora-
ling-restrained braces based on the methodology described in tory constraints, the selected design angle of the brace with
the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Quantification the horizontal was 35.0 degrees, which was at the lower end
of Building Seismic Performance Factors (FEMA P-695).26 The of the brace angles for the archetype frames analyzed by Oh
results supported a seismic response modification coefficient R et al.18 The corresponding horizontal and vertical distances
of 8, the same value specified in ASCE 7-2225 for buckling-re- between the bottom and top work points of the scaled test
strained braced frames in steel building construction. specimens were 6.56 and 4.59 ft (2.0 and 1.4 m), respectively.
In another recent study, Kessler et al.27 tested the welded In a departure from typical uniaxial testing of isolated steel
gusset plate connection between a steel buckling-restrained buckling-restrained braces,28 the diagonal subassembly setup
brace (simulated using a hydraulic actuator) and the beam in this research subjected the brace to both axial and rotational
and column components of a precast concrete building frame. demands, resulting in more realistic boundary conditions for
Practical challenges of incorporating steel braces in precast braces loaded within a building frame. Key components of the
concrete construction were identified in this research. test setup included the test specimen, laboratory tie-down fix-
ture, pin-based steel column, lateral actuator, and lateral-load
Whereas the aforementioned studies focused on using steel reaction frame. Each specimen included a brace, which was
braces in concrete construction, Oh et al.1 conducted an ana- cast together with two end blocks (a top end block and a bot-
lytical investigation of the seismic design and behavior of the tom end block) representing the regions of a frame where the
novel reinforced concrete buckling-restrained brace shown in energy-dissipation bars are anchored. The beams and columns
Fig. 1. This study developed a design procedure for the brace of the precast concrete frame were deliberately excluded in
and numerically simulated various brace failure mechanisms, this setup to isolate the brace behavior. As described in Oh
including global buckling of the brace, closure of the end et al.,1 these boundary and loading conditions also permitted
gaps, and local translational buckling of the energy-dissipa- a more critical evaluation of the brace capacities and failure
tion bars across the end gaps. modes because almost all of the applied lateral load was
carried by the brace.
Overview of experimental program
Figures 2 and 4 show that the top end block of each brace
The research described in this paper represents the first specimen was clamped vertically to the pin-based steel
experimental investigation of this novel reinforced concrete column, which was designed to remain linearly elastic during

Clamping plates Actuator support beam
Out-of-plane
bracing not
shown for clarity
Actuator
Specimen
Rest of actuator
Tie-down beam reaction frame not
shown for clarity
Pin-based
steel column
W
E
Tie-down fixture
Figure 2. Experimental test setup schematic. Note: E = east; W = west.
Clamping plates
S N
Out-of-plane
bracing
Actuator
Specimen
Tie-down beam
Pin-based
steel column
Tie-down fixture
Figure 3. Experimental test setup. Note: N = north; S = south.

Top clamping
plate
Actuator head
Front actuator
clamping plates W
E
Column
clamping plate
Pin-based
steel column
Back actuator
clamping plate
Figure 4. Pin-based steel column, top end block clamped to the column, and lateral actuator clamped to the top end block.
Note: E = east; W = west.
testing. The pin-based column was composed of an 8 × 8 × lateral loading to the specimen. The horizontal and vertical
3⁄ in. (203 × 203 × 9.53 mm) hollow structural steel section clamping forces were designed to prevent decompression of
8
shape with a 2 in. (50 mm) thick steel plate welded to the top the clamping plate connections under the maximum loads
and two 1 in. (25 mm) thick steel side cover plates welded at applied during testing.
the bottom (to prevent tear-out failure of the hollow column
section). There were two reasons for using a pin-based steel The bottom end block of each specimen was supported by a
column: 6.5 ft × 6.5 ft × 14.5 in. (1.98 m × 1.98 m × 368 mm) rein-
forced concrete tie-down fixture to anchor the specimen to the
• to better isolate the behavior of the brace from the mea- laboratory strong floor during testing. The top of the tie-down
sured behavior of the specimen by minimizing the lateral fixture was cast with four symmetrically placed 14 × 15 in.
forces resisted by the column (360 × 380 mm) pockets, where the bottom end block of
the specimen was embedded and grouted along its side and
• to allow the column to remain undamaged and be reused bottom surfaces with a minimum embedment depth of 2 in.
from test to test for efficiency in the test setup (50 mm) inside the pocket. The embedment of the bottom end
block inside a pocket was necessary to prevent lateral slip of
Because the use of an elastic pin-based steel column may the block under the large lateral forces transferred from the
not accurately represent the behavior of a precast concrete brace during testing. The bottom end block of the last spec-
column, testing of full frames or more complete frame subas- imen was lowered to sit directly at the bottom of the pocket
semblies including precast concrete beams and columns with to increase the grouted embedment depth. After grouting the
realistic connections must be conducted in the future. bottom end block into the pocket, a steel beam was used to
clamp the end block and tie-down fixture to the strong floor.
The pin base was built using two clevis brackets, with a 3 in. After each test, the concrete fixture was rotated to allow the
(76 mm) diameter steel pin passing through the two brackets next specimen to be grouted in an unused pocket.
and cover plates. The top end block was also clamped hori-
zontally to the hydraulic actuator, which was used to apply the The embedded grouting of the bottom end block inside a

pocket resulted in near-fixed boundary conditions for the boundary conditions that a brace would be subjected to in an
block. This was deemed unrealistic for braces in a typical actual frame.
precast concrete frame structure where all column compo-
nents of the frame, even those at the base of the structure, Design of test specimens
would undergo rotation as the frame undergoes drift, resulting
in more symmetric rotational boundary conditions at the two A full-scale prototype brace was designed to form the basis
ends of a brace. After the testing of specimen 2, the test setup of the four test specimens in this research. This prototype
was modified to allow increased rotation of the bottom end brace was designed following the procedure in Oh et al.1 for
block inside the pocket. Because the specimen did not include an adjusted brace axial force of about 1200 kip (5338 kN),
the beam and column components of a precast concrete frame, corresponding to the upper range of brace forces for the ar-
the actual rotations of these components could not be repli- chetype frames analyzed in Oh et al.18 The resulting full-scale
cated. Instead, the bottom end block was allowed to slightly prototype brace had a 20 in. (508 mm) octagonal section1
rotate in the plane of testing by placing 0.5 in. (13 mm) thick, (measured flat to flat) with eight no. 11 (36M) steel reinforc-
70A-durometer-hardness neoprene rubber pads against the top ing bars for the energy-dissipation reinforcement, four no.
surface of the block as well as the bottom, east, and west sur- 9 (29M) bars for the terminated longitudinal reinforcement,
faces of the grouted depth of the block (Fig. 5). The east and and circular no. 6 (19M) spirals with 3 in. (76 mm) pitch, all
west surfaces each had a single rubber pad, and the top and meeting Grade 60 (414 MPa) ASTM A7062 standards. The
bottom surfaces of the bottom end block each had two smaller unbonded length of the energy-dissipation bars and the width
pads, with a 0.5 in. thick, 2 in. (50 mm) wide aluminum plate of the end gaps were designed as described in Oh et al.1 to
placed between the two rubber pads. This aluminum plate was prevent fracture of the bars in tension (based on an assumed
necessary to provide vertical stiffness for the application of usable tensile strain limit of 0.06 for the bars29) and closure of
the tie-down forces while allowing rotation (in the plane of the gaps in compression at a maximum design story drift of
testing) of the block over the rubber pads. To create similar ±4%. At each end of the full-scale prototype brace, the width
boundary conditions, two 0.5 in. thick rubber pads, with a of the gap was 3 in. and the unbonded length of the ener-
0.5 in. thick, 2 in. wide aluminum plate in between them, gy-dissipation bars was 46 in. (1170 mm), including the width
were also placed at the top and bottom surfaces of the top end of gap.
block.
The properties of the test specimens were determined at an
The test setup did not include sensors to measure the amount approximately one-third-length scale to fit within the avail-
of rotation introduced from the use of rubber pads, so the able laboratory space, with variations of selected parameters
exact amount of rotation, albeit small, is not known. Displace- between the four specimens. Table 1 summarizes these test
ment transducers measuring the lateral displacements of the variables, which included the presence of shear dowels across
bottom end block work point did not indicate any appreciable the end gaps (designed to prevent translational buckling of
differences between tests without and with rubber pads. Ulti- the energy-dissipation bars), confinement spiral pitch, and
mately, testing of full frames or more complete frame subas- energy-dissipation reinforcement ratio (modified by changing
semblies including precast concrete beams and columns with the brace cross-section area while maintaining the same ener-
realistic connections must be conducted to better simulate the gy-dissipation bar area). As described later in this paper, the
Tie-down beam Top end block
E
W
W
E
Rubber
Rubber Rubber Aluminum
Rubber plate
Aluminum
plate
Bottom end block Pin-based steel column
Figure 5. Rubber pads and aluminum plates placed at the top of the bottom end block and the bottom of the top end block.
Note: E = east; W = west.

Table 1. Summary of test specimen variables
Brace flat-to-flat Energy-dissipation Spiral pitch, Spiral reinforcement

Specimen Shear dowel
width, in. bar ratio in. ratio*
1 No 7 0.039 1 0.031
2 Yes 7 0.039 3 0.010
3 Yes 6 0.054 1 0.037
4 Yes 7 0.039 1 0.031
Note: 1 in. = 25.4 mm.

* Spiral reinforcement ratio is calculated using confined concrete core volume based on out-to-out diameter of spiral.
shear dowels provided the most significant difference between bedded into the top and bottom end blocks. Because the goal
the test specimens. The effects of the other variables (ener- was to test the brace behavior, each energy-dissipation bar
gy-dissipation reinforcement ratio and spiral pitch) could not was embedded as far as possible into the end blocks to ensure
be tested at the full intended range of brace behavior because that the end anchorages of these bars would not govern the
there was a previously unidentified failure mode caused by performance of the brace. This design choice resulted in 12
torsional buckling of the energy-dissipation bars across the to 15 in. (305 to 381 mm) of embedment for the headed bars
end gaps. Specifically, the shear dowels were able to prevent in specimens 1, 3, and 4, and 11 to 14 in. (280 to 360 mm) of
local translational buckling of the energy-dissipation bars embedment for the headed bars in specimen 2. These em-
across the end gaps in specimens 2, 3, and 4, but they were bedment lengths were significantly longer than the minimum
unable to prevent the alternative torsional mode of buckling development length of 7.5 in. (191 mm) calculated per the
manifested in these specimens. requirements for headed bars in special moment frames from
section 18.8.5.2 of the American Concrete Institute’s Building
To provide comparable buckling characteristics for the ener- Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-19) and
gy-dissipation bars, the scaled design of the test specimens Commentary (ACI 318R-19).31
prioritized maintaining the approximate one-third-length scale
on the bar diameter rather than matching the exact (nondi- The midlength bonded regions of the energy-dissipation bars
mensional) reinforcing steel percentages based on areas of (within the brace length between the two unbonded regions)
standard bar sizes. The resulting scaled brace had eight no. were designed to remain linearly elastic during the compres-
4 (13M) bars for energy-dissipation reinforcement and four sive and tensile deformations of the brace by bonding the
no. 3 (10M) bars as terminated reinforcement; all bars were bars to the surrounding concrete. In Oh et al.,1 this bonded
Grade 60 (414 MPa) ASTM A706 reinforcing steel. Each region is recommended to provide at least twice the straight
octagonal section had a flat-to-flat width of 6 or 7 in. (152 or development length of the bars in tension. The development
178 mm), depending on the specimen, resulting in an ener- length for the no. 4 (13M) energy-dissipation bars per section
gy-dissipation reinforcement ratio of 5.4% or 3.9%, and a to- 18.8.5.3(a) of ACI 318-19 was 15 in. (381 mm), correspond-
tal longitudinal steel reinforcement ratio of 6.8% or 5.0%. The ing to a minimum recommended middle bonded length of
spiral confinement reinforcement was Grade 80 (552 MPa) 30 in. (762 mm). The provided length of this bonded region
ASTM A106430 D5 (MD32) wire, with a wire diameter of was 46 in. (1170 mm) for specimens 1, 3, and 4, and 48 in.
0.25 in. (6.3 mm), spiral pitch of 1 or 3 in. (25 or 76 mm), and (1220 mm) for specimen 2; thus, the bonded length for the
spiral outer diameter of 6 or 5 in. (152 or 127 mm), depending energy-dissipation bars was greater than the recommended
on the specimen, resulting in a clear cover of 0.5 in. (12.7 minimum bonded length.
mm). Wire was chosen rather than reinforcing bar to prioritize
the scaled diameter of the spirals over using the same material The top and bottom end blocks used in the brace subassembly
properties. The scaled length of each unbonded region of the specimens were based on the column designs from previous
energy-dissipation bars was 15 in. (381 mm), including the research,18 with a full-scale section size of 36 × 36 in. (914 ×
width of each end gap, which was scaled to 1 in. (25 mm). 914 mm) and Grade 80 (552 MPa) longitudinal reinforcement
ratio of 5% to 6%. The dimensions of the one-third-scale col-
For specimen 2, the unbonded length (wrapped region) of umn were adjusted to a 12 × 12.5 in. (305 × 318 mm) section
the energy-dissipation bars at each end of the brace was to account for tolerances in the experimental setup. Because
shifted 1 in. (25 mm) into the corbel region. This change was the behavior of the columns was deemed not critical to the
intended to investigate potential advantages of extending the brace behavior, the longitudinal and transverse reinforcement
unbonded regions into the corbel; however, premature torsion- of the end blocks was redesigned at scale (to match full-scale
al buckling failure of the brace prevented a full investigation reinforcement ratios) rather than attempting to maintain the
on the effect of this detail. same number of bars as in the full-scale design. The at-scale
design of the end blocks used six no. 9 (29M) longitudinal
The ends of the energy-dissipation bars were headed and em- bars with no. 3 (10M) transverse hoops at approximately 3.0

Corbel
U-bars
Corbel
Bent
U-bar
Single
hoop
Figure 6. Corbel region reinforcement and schematic of the shear dowel that was used to prevent translational buckling of the
energy-dissipation bars.
in (76 mm) spacing. All end block reinforcement was Grade to the corbel region in each end block (Fig. 6). Inside the
80 ASTM A7062 reinforcing steel. brace, the dowel was axially debonded from the surrounding
concrete by wrapping the dowel with plastic sheathing and
The corbel regions were designed with longitudinal and providing an open pocket at the end. In this arrangement,
transverse reinforcement that included two U bars, a closed the dowels were intended to prevent the brace from laterally
hoop, and a bent U bar. The two U bars were placed parallel translating with respect to the corbels, without contributing to
to and on either side of the energy-dissipation bars (Fig. 6). the axial behavior of the brace.
The closed hoop and bent U bar, which were spaced 3.5 in.
(89 mm) on center, provided transverse confinement to the Material properties and casting
corbel region. All reinforcement in the corbels used no. 3 of test specimens
(10M) Grade 80 (552 MPa) ASTM A706 bars.
The four brace test specimens and the tie-down fixture
Numerical finite element analyses in Oh et al.1 indicated that were cast at a precast concrete manufacturing facility using
the energy-dissipation bars are susceptible to translational concrete mixture proportions designed for a specified com-
buckling due to relative lateral translation of the bars (with pressive strength of 6.0 ksi (41 MPa, and not to exceed a
respect to the bar axis) across each end gap of the brace. An compressive strength of 7.5 ksi (52 MPa). Figure 7 shows
axially decoupled steel dowel with a shear area equal to at a sample reinforcement cage and formwork. The unbonded
least 50% of the total shear area of the energy-dissipation bars regions of the energy-dissipation bars were wrapped inside
was recommended for preventing translational buckling of the plastic sheathing, and the brace end gap regions were formed
bars across each end gap. Based on this recommendation, a 3 using octagonal extruded polystyrene foam boards. In general,
in. diameter (76 mm) round steel rod was designed as a shear the octagonal brace section made concrete placement difficult.
dowel at the center of the full-scale brace section, resulting Furthermore, the spiral reinforcement was challenging to
in a 1 in. diameter (25 mm) dowel at each end of the scaled stretch while maintaining consistent spacing (pitch) through-
specimens 2, 3, and 4. This dowel was embedded and bonded out the brace, especially in the critical unbonded regions of

Plastic-wrapped Spirals
Octagonal-shaped extruded
regions
polystyrene foam board
Headed
ED bars
End block
cage Octagonal
formwork
Figure 7. Sample specimen reinforcement cage and formwork. Note: ED = energy-dissipation bar.
the brace. Use of square or rectangular brace sections with greatly between the specimens. Specifically, specimens 1 and
closed hoops as transverse reinforcement would significant- 4 had a significant decrease from the 28-day concrete tensile
ly simplify construction and is therefore recommended for strength to the brace test-day strength, while the concrete
future research. In terms of brace behavior, the effect of using tensile strength of specimen 2 increased slightly (brace test-
a square or rectangular brace section instead of an octagonal day tensile strength for the concrete used in specimen 3 is not
section is expected to be relatively small because the behavior available). All specimens had an increase in the concrete mod-
of the end gaps largely governs the behavior of the brace. ulus of elasticity with age, with specimen 2 having the largest
increase. The reasons for the differences between the mechan-
The test specimens were cast on two separate days, with ical properties of the two concrete batches and differences in
specimens 1 and 4 cast together using the first concrete batch, trends from 28-day to brace test-day properties are unknown;
and specimens 2 and 3 cast using the second concrete batch. however, these differences may be related to variabilities in
Both batches had the same concrete mixture proportions. concrete batching, mixing, placing, sampling, handling, and
Concrete cylinder samples (3 × 6 in. [76 × 152 mm]) were curing conditions. Overall, because the behavior of the novel
taken from each batch to measure the compressive and tensile brace is mostly governed by the behavior of the energy-dissi-
strengths at 28 days and on the day of brace specimen testing. pation bars crossing the end gaps, it is expected that the dif-
Table 2 shows the compressive strength, modulus of elastici- ferences in the concrete mechanical properties had a relatively
ty, and tensile strength for the concrete, which were measured small effect on the results from the brace testing described in
using the testing methods of ASTM C39,32 ASTM C469,33 this paper.
and ASTM C496,34 respectively. The strength and modulus of
elasticity of the first concrete batch (used in specimens 1 and No material samples of the reinforcing steel used in the test
4) were lower than the strength and modulus of elasticity of specimens were available; thus, no reinforcing bar sample
the second concrete batch (specimens 2 and 3). The con- testing could be performed. However, some tensile testing
crete in each specimen had a small increase (less than 10%) results were available from the steel manufacturers. The
between the 28-day and brace-test-day compressive strengths. Grade 60 (414 MPa) energy-dissipation and terminated rein-
Changes in tensile strength with concrete age, however, varied forcing steel bars had tested yield strengths of approximately

Table 2. Average 28-day and brace test-day compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, and tensile strength of
concrete
28 days Brace test day
Specimen Modulus of Tensile Age of Modulus of Tensile

Compressive
Compressive strength, ksi elasticity, strength, specimen, elasticity, strength,
strength, ksi
ksi ksi days ksi ksi
1 6.35 4075 0.520 49 6.81 4115 0.415
2 7.31 4320 0.572 59 7.58 5048 0.587
not
3 7.31 4320 0.572 73 7.79* 4643
available
4 6.35 4075 0.520 86 6.88 4405 0.412
Note: 1 ksi = 6.895 MPa.

*Average from two cylinders. All other provided data are averages from three cylinders.
67 and 64 ksi (462 and 441 MPa), respectively, and ultimate approximate story drift of more than 3%, after which the load-
strengths of approximately 94 and 97 ksi (648 and 669 MPa), ing was reversed to compression, followed by unloading of
respectively. The Grade 80 (552 MPa) D5 (MD32) wire spiral the specimen. This postfailure sequence of loading provided
confinement steel had a tested yield strength of approximately additional information regarding the behavior of the brace.
91 ksi (627 MPa).
Instrumentation
Loading
The applied lateral load was measured using the internal
Each specimen was subjected to lateral loading applied at load cell of the hydraulic actuator. The other sensors in the
the brace work point height on the top end block using a experimental setup measured the displacements and deforma-
servo-controlled hydraulic actuator with a 225 kip (1000 tions of the specimen. A total of 14 strain gauges were used to
kN) load capacity and 10 in. (254 mm) stroke. For the initial measure the strains in the reinforcing bars. Four of the eight
stages of testing in the near-linear range of brace behavior, the energy-dissipation bars were gauged at the midlength of each
loading sequence began with target lateral forces of 10, 20, unbonded zone and at the midlength of the brace (midlength
and 30 kip (44.5, 89.0, and 133 kN), with initial loading direc- of the bonded region). In addition, two of the four terminat-
tion in tension and three fully reversed tension-compression ed bars were gauged at the midlength of the bonded region.
cycles at each load level. Note that the tested specimen forces When placing the bars inside the spiral cage, the gauged bars
would be one-ninth of corresponding full-scale brace forces, were alternated with the bars that were not gauged (Fig. 8),
calculated as the square of the one-third-length scale. thus the gauged bars were evenly distributed around the cross
section of the brace.
After the force-controlled cycles, each specimen was loaded
using displacement-controlled cycles. This series of loading Seven linear string potentiometers were used to measure the
started with three fully reversed cycles at a target story drift of in-plane deformations and displacements of each specimen.
approximately 0.16%, followed by subsequent sets of cycles Two of these sensors measured the horizontal displacement
at target drift levels of 1.5 times the previous level until fail- of the top work point (Fig. 9), and the average of these
ure, as specified in ACI 550.6 Acceptance Criteria for Special two readings was used during the displacement-controlled
Unbonded Post-Tensioned Precast Structural Walls Based loading in each test. One string potentiometer was used to
on Validation Testing and Commentary.35 As described in Oh measure the horizontal movement of the bottom work point,
et al.,1 the ACI 550.6 target drift history represented more while two string potentiometers were used to measure the
rigorous testing conditions for the braces than the procedure relative diagonal work point-to-work point deformation on
prescribed for the cyclic qualification testing of steel buck- each side of the brace (Fig. 9). Finally, two string potenti-
ling-restrained braces in Seismic Provisions for Structural ometers measured the relative diagonal deformation over
Steel Buildings (AISC 341-16).28 the middle bonded region on each side of the brace. Be-
cause of their placement locations, the seven potentiometers
During each test, the approximate story drift was controlled remained viable even after the energy-dissipation bars in the
based on the lateral displacement of the top work point, with end gap regions of the brace buckled.
no corrections from other specimen displacements or defor-
mations. Upon compression failure of the brace in specimens In addition, seven linear plastic potentiometers were used
1, 2, and 4 (due to local buckling of the energy-dissipation to measure the relative displacements across each end gap.
bars), the testing continued monotonically in tension to an Four of these sensors measured the intended gap opening

Gauged energy-
dissipation bar, Gauged terminated
all locations bar, middle bonded
location only
Gauged terminated
bar, middle bonded Gauged energy-
location only dissipation bar,
all locations
Location of
strain gauges
Figure 8. Side view of test setup showing locations of strain gauges.
Horizontal string Diagonal string

potentiometers potentiometers
Figure 9. String potentiometer locations.
and closing displacements in the axial direction, and three Simplified numerical modeling
sensors measured any unintended transverse displacement
(that is, a brace end translating or rotating relative to the The behavior of each brace specimen was simulated numer-
corbel) (Fig. 10). Each test used an additional 14 displace- ically using modeling methods similar to those described for
ment sensors; however, these sensors provided secondary the nonlinear multicyclic analyses in Oh et al.1 A continuum
measurements (such as, displacements of the loading/reac- nonlinear finite element analysis program was used for this
tion frame, out-of-plane displacements) and ultimately did simulation.36 The design of the brace at the component level
not provide relevant data for the brace behaviors described assumed that the brace behavior can be approximated as
herein. an axial element to determine initial stiffnesses, unbonded

Axial
Transverse
Location of axial potentiometers
Location of transverse potentiometers
Figure 10. Locations of plastic potentiometers for each gap region.
Unbonded region Bonded region Unbonded region
Concrete Three-dimensional energy-dissipation bar

Rigid end cap One-dimensional energy-dissipation bar
Figure 11. Schematic of the axial brace finite element model (spiral confinement and terminated reinforcing bar elements are not
shown for clarity).
length, gap length, and brace demands.1 Accordingly, the nu- unbonded regions of the energy-dissipation bars were mod-
merical models (Fig. 11) were developed to directly compare eled using one-dimensional uniaxial truss elements embedded
the brace analyses under assumed axial loading to the mea- inside parallel three-dimensional tetrahedral elements (see
sured behaviors from the diagonal subassembly testing. Thus, Oh et al.1). The one-dimensional elements were assigned zero
the numerical model comparisons evaluated not only the abili- bond strength to allow the energy-dissipation bars to freely
ty of the models to capture the behavior of each specimen, but slide tangentially over the unbonded length while carrying
also the assumption of treating the braces as axial elements. axial forces. The three-dimensional elements provided lateral
stability to the one-dimensional elements and were axially
The bonded regions of the energy-dissipation bars (including decoupled from the brace so that they did not contribute to the
the middle bonded region and the end block regions) were axial stiffness and strength of the structure.
modeled using discrete one-dimensional uniaxial truss (line)
elements with a bilinear steel stress-strain relationship. The The brace and end blocks were modeled using three-dimen-
truss element nodes within these regions were constrained sional 10-node quadratic tetrahedral elements with concrete
to the surrounding concrete nodes, assuming perfect bond properties, while the terminated bars and spiral confinement
provided by adequate development lengths. To avoid unreal- were modeled using one-dimensional truss elements with the
istic strain hardening effects from the finite element analysis same bilinear steel stress-strain relationship that was used for
program (when using three-dimensional steel elements), the the energy-dissipation bar elements. For modeling purposes,

the end blocks also included rigid end caps to ensure model however, future work should consider developing models that
stability while the brace was subjected to axial loading. can capture these behaviors.
There were some discrepancies between the models and the Experimental results
experiments. First, the models were intentionally subject-
ed to uniaxial loading (as noted previously) to compare the This section describes the results from the testing of the four
assumed axial behavior of the brace to the measured brace specimens, including findings about the brace failure modes,
behavior from the diagonal subassembly test configuration, cracking, stiffness, and strength, as well as the design of the
which included rotational effects. Because the comparisons energy-dissipation bars, terminated bars, and confinement
described herein were intended to determine the veracity of reinforcement. Comparisons between the numerical model
the uniaxial modeling assumption used in design, the model- simulations and the test results are also discussed.
ing of braces including frame action was out of the scope of
this study; future research including frame action is recom- Load versus deformation behavior
mended. Second, for comparison with the numerical model
brace axial behavior, it was not possible to directly measure Figure 12 shows the cyclic brace axial force plotted against
the axial force in the diagonal brace specimens (instead, the story drift from each test up through failure, not including
lateral force applied at the top work point was measured), the monotonic tension loading after buckling failure. The
which required the estimation of the brace axial force using brace axial force was calculated by dividing the measured
the brace diagonal angle, measured as approximately 35.5 de- lateral force (applied to the top work point) by the cosine
grees from the horizontal for all specimens. Third, the numer- of the measured brace angle (taken as 35.5 degrees for all
ical study was limited to monotonic analyses in the tension specimens). This estimate was fairly accurate because of the
and compression directions of loading, and did not include pinned boundary condition at the bottom of the steel col-
modeling of failure for the specimens. This study also did umn, but discrepancies would be greater with changes in the
not include several other features that were discovered in the brace angle at larger story drifts. The story drift was calcu-
experimental results (described in the next section), such as lated using the measured relative work point–to–work point
any friction that may have developed in the unbonded regions diagonal deformation of the brace together with the idealized
of the energy-dissipation bars and any additional debonding shear frame drift equation described in Oh et al.1 Note that
that may have occurred at the transitions from the unbonded this idealized drift equation slightly underestimates the actual
to the bonded regions of the energy-dissipation bars. These story drift that would be reached at the same diagonal brace
effects were excluded to ensure simplicity in the models; deformation within a building frame. This is because the shear
Figure 12. Brace axial force plotted against story drift for each test (excluding monotonic tension pull after failure). Note: ED =
energy dissipation. 1 kip = 4.448 kN.

frame approximation ignores the additional drift that would
occur due to the axial deformations of the beams and columns
of the frame. In other words, the actual story drifts in a frame 200
140 kip peak load
corresponding to the measured work point–to–work point 150
Approximate brace force, kip

brace deformations in this study would be slightly larger than 100
the approximate drifts shown in Fig. 12. Future research on 50
full frames or more complete frame subassemblies including 0
precast concrete beams and columns must be conducted to -50
quantify these differences.
-100
Torsional
-150 Initial torsional buckling
None of the specimens achieved the large drift levels (±4% buckling failure
-200
drift level) expected from previous numerical work,1 with all -2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
four specimens failing prematurely in compression. Spec- Approximate story drift, %
imens 1, 2, and 4 failed due to local buckling of the ener-
gy-dissipation bars across the end gaps of the brace, while
testing of specimen 3 could not be completed due to failure
Figure 13. Specimen 4 cyclic behavior, including final mono-
of the grouted pocket within the tie-down fixture. The failure
tonic tension pull and load reversal into compression. Note:
point during each test is marked in Fig. 12, with the failure 1 kip = 4.448 kN.
points typically corresponding to a significant drop in com-
pression load. The largest drift in compression (approximately of each specimen. This energy dissipation was larger in
1.5%) was reached by specimen 4, which had shear dowels compression than in tension, with an increasing trend as the
across the end gaps and rubber pads that allowed greater rota- displacement increased in compression. These observations
tions of the top and bottom end blocks. from the data (and the lack of any observable damage during
the early cycles) indicate that the energy dissipation was like-
Based on the nominal area and yield strength of the ener- ly due to the friction of the energy-dissipation bars with the
gy-dissipation bars, the braces had a theoretical axial yield surrounding plastic wrapping and concrete in the unbonded
strength of around 108 kip (480 kN). Looking at the experi- zones. The friction forces would be expected to increase when
mental brace force–versus–story drift graphs for specimens the brace is loaded in compression because of Poisson effect
2 and 4 (where yielding of the energy-dissipation bars was on the bar diameter. Future numerical modeling of these brace
achieved in both tension and compression), the points of specimens should attempt to simulate this behavior.
significant stiffness change in tension and compression
(which coincided with yielding of all of the energy-dissipation Figure 14 compares the measured backbone and simulated
bars) matched well with this theoretical yield strength. After work point–to–work point deformation of the brace plotted
buckling of the energy-dissipation bars, the specimens were against the brace axial force. The backbone curve from each
pulled in tension beyond 3% story drift. The braces were able cyclic test was generated by drawing a line through the peak
to reach this large drift without fracture of the energy-dissipa- point at each displacement level. The simulated curves were
tion bars despite prior buckling failure of the bars. However, obtained by conducting separate monotonic analyses in ten-
because this loading beyond brace failure in compression was sion and compression; however, these results were found to be
monotonic, future research should investigate the behavior of identical to backbone curves generated from reversed cyclic
braces under reversed-cyclic loading to large displacement analyses. The curves in compression are up to the point of
levels in compression and tension. failure as determined from the experiments, while the curves
in tension are for the entire displacement range (including the
After the monotonic tension pull, the loading was reversed monotonic tension pull after buckling).
into compression until the energy-dissipation bars began to
buckle again. Figure 13 shows the brace force–versus–sto- While some discrepancies can be seen in the initial stiffness-
ry drift behavior for specimen 4 including this final loading es, the comparisons in Fig. 14 show a good match between the
sequence. The buckling load reached upon reversal into simulated behaviors and the experimental results despite the
compression after the final monotonic tension pull was very simplified modeling approach. These results provide evidence
similar to the buckling load during the cycle before the mono- that the brace behavior can be reasonably approximated as an
tonic tension pull. This finding indicates that the additional axial element within the ranges tested in the experiments. The
extension of the bars did not cause a reduction in the buck- results are consistent across all four specimens, indicating that
ling load. The final brace force–versus–story drift cycle also the axial assumption holds even with the increased rotation
provides some evidence of the large energy dissipation that of the end blocks from the use of rubber pads in specimens 3
can be expected if premature failure mechanisms of the novel and 4.
brace can be prevented.
Additional insight on the initial stiffness behavior of the brac-
The hysteresis loops in Fig. 12 also show that a small amount es and further comparisons of the numerical model results are
of energy dissipation occurred during the early loading cycles provided later in this paper.

Figure 14. Comparison of experimental backbone curves and finite element model (FEM) results of equivalent braces under
monotonic axial loading. Note: 1 in. = 25.4 mm; 1 kip = 4.448 kN.
Buckling of energy-dissipation bars sional buckling of the bars across the end gaps. This buckling
mode developed after yielding of the energy-dissipation bars
The test results showed that local buckling of the energy-dis- in compression (Fig. 12) and was characterized by the rotation
sipation bars across the end gaps can occur in two different (twist) of the entire brace around its axis while the brace
modes: translational and torsional. Both buckling modes stayed in line with the work points in the end blocks.
initiated after yielding of the energy-dissipation bars in
compression. Prior to yielding, the bars were generally stable, Figure 16 shows a close-up view of the top gap region in
indicating that the elastic shear and torsional stiffnesses of the specimen 4 after the torsional buckling of the energy-dissipa-
bars were adequate to prevent buckling failure. Specimen 1 tion bars. Unlike the translational buckling failure of speci-
(the only specimen without shear dowels across the end gaps) men 1, the torsional buckling mode was not anticipated based
buckled translationally with the entire group of energy-dis- on the numerical models.
sipation bars buckling together in the same direction. This
buckling coincided with the yielding of all of the energy-dis- These results indicate that the use of shear dowels may be
sipation bars in compression (Fig. 12), as indicated by strain appropriate to prevent translational buckling of the ener-
gauge data, and caused the entire brace to shift diagonally gy-dissipation bars, but additional considerations are needed
downward relative to the end blocks, such that the centerline to prevent torsional buckling. Ultimately, torsional buckling
of the brace was no longer aligned with the work points in the was the dominant failure mechanism that prevented the brace
end blocks. Figure 15 shows a close-up image of the top gap specimens with shear dowels from reaching their intended de-
region in specimen 1 after the translational buckling of the formation levels. Future experiments should consider different
energy-dissipation bars. dowel shapes (for example, rectangular plate) as well as the
use of multiple non-centrally placed dowels across the end
The translational buckling failure mechanism in specimen 1 gaps to prevent torsional buckling.
was expected based on the numerical study in Oh et al.1 This
buckling demonstrated the need for additional shear resistance While specimen 3 with the smaller brace section was not
across the end gaps, which was investigated in specimens 2, tested to its full extent due to failure in the experimental
3, and 4 by using a shear dowel across each end gap. The use setup, the initial behavior of this brace was compared against
of shear dowels in specimens 2 and 4 prevented translational the findings from the other test specimens, including gap and
buckling of the energy-dissipation bars; however, the plas- out-of-plane displacements. These measurements showed no
tic-wrapped round dowel rod placed at the center of the brace indication that the smaller brace section led to a difference in
cross section was unable to prevent the development of tor- its behavior within the tested range. This finding, however,

Buckled bars
Relative movement of
brace with respect to corbel
Relative movement of
brace with respect to corbel
Figure 15. Translational buckling of the energy-dissipation bars in specimen 1 with close-up view of the top end gap.
ultimately must be validated at the higher drift levels where Figure 17 compares the top end region of specimens 1,
these braces are intended to be used. 2, and 4 after excavation (that is, after any loose pieces of
concrete were removed from around the reinforcing bars).
The confined concrete at the brace ends and corbel regions is Specimen 2 had significantly more damage to the brace
intended to provide lateral support to the energy-dissipation ends as compared to the damage in specimens 1 and 4. This
bars on either side of each gap, after any deterioration of the difference was likely due to the greater amount of clear cover
concrete cover in these regions. The clear concrete cover between the end of the brace and the end of the spiral in
for the confinement spiral, including the cover between the specimen 2, which may have contributed to the buckling of
spiral and the end of the brace, was designed to be 0.5 in. (13 the energy-dissipation bars due to increased laterally un-
mm) at scale (based on a 1.5 in. [38 mm] clear cover from supported length of the bars after loss of the cover concrete.
full-scale design). The cover between the end of the spiral This damage indicates the importance of providing sufficient
and the end of the brace (and similarly, the end cover in the concrete confinement with not more than the minimum re-
corbel) is particularly important because the laterally unsup- quired amount of cover at the ends of the brace. Because the
ported length of the energy-dissipation bars increases if that loss of cover was limited to a small region at the ends of the
cover is lost in the event of a large earthquake. Construction braces tested in this research, it may be possible to reduce the
difficulties arising from the reduced-scale brace dimensions, amount of confinement reinforcement away from the ends.
octagonal section shape, and use of spiral reinforcement led to The concrete damage to the ends of specimen 4 was general-
large inconsistencies in the cover thickness, including areas of ly less than that in specimen 1 even though these two braces
exposed reinforcement with no concrete cover. Specimens 1, had similar amounts of concrete confinement and cover and
3, and 4 had almost no cover between the end of the brace and even though specimen 4 was loaded to larger displacements
the end of the spiral, whereas specimen 2 had 1.25 to 1.5 in. during testing. This may indicate that the presence of shear
(32 to 38 mm) of clear cover between the end of the brace and dowels and the torsional buckling mode of the energy-dissi-
the end of the spiral. These differences resulted from diffi- pation bars in specimen 4 resulted in reduced demands in the
culties in maintaining the spiral spacing during construction, concrete as compared with the translational buckling mode
where the spirals with 1 in. (25 mm) pitch in specimens 1, in specimen 1. Future testing must be performed to better
3, and 4 tended to push outward and the spiral with 3 in. (76 understand the limits of confinement necessary to achieve the
mm) pitch in specimen 2 tended to pull inward. required brace performance.

Initial top
surface
Initial top
surface
Buckled bars
Twist
direction
Twist
direction
Figure 16. Torsional buckling of specimen 4 with close-up view of the top end gap.
Limited concrete
spalling from testing Torsional
Excavated Excavated Torsional buckling
concrete concrete buckling
Translational
buckling
End cover thickness
End cover thickness

Exposed spiral from
casting with almost
no end cover
Specimen 1 Specimen 2 Specimen 4
Figure 17. Comparison of top end gap regions after completion of test and excavation of concrete (removal of any loose pieces
of concrete from around the bars) for specimens 1, 2, and 4.
Middle bonded region cracking numerical models, which predicted cracking to initiate in the
middle bonded region of each brace at a diagonal brace ten-
Figure 18 shows the typical cracking that developed within sion force of 18 kip (80 kN) for specimens 1, 2, and 4 and 14
the middle bonded region of the test specimens, which initiat- kip (62 kN) for specimen 3. The effect of this cracking on the
ed during the first lateral-load cycle, reaching a diagonal brace stiffness of the specimens, especially in tension, is discussed
tension force of approximately 25 kip (109 kN). This finding later in this paper (initial stiffness section). As expected,
was consistent with pretest design and analysis from the concrete cracking did not affect the strength of the specimens,

Marked cracks
Crack initiation End of test
Figure 18. Cracking in middle bonded region of specimen 4 at crack initiation and end of test.
Cracks
Semi-structured mesh, initiation of cracking

Cracks
Semi-structured mesh, end of test

Cracks
Unstructured mesh, initiation of cracking

Cracks
Unstructured mesh, end of test
Figure 19. Cracking in numerical models under axial tension loading.
which was governed by the yielding of the energy-dissipation transferred from the energy-dissipation bars to the concrete
bars across the end gaps. The cracks were perpendicular to the in these regions. No evidence of uncontrolled crack widening
brace axis (consistent with the predominant axial loading) and was found in any test, demonstrating that the energy-dissi-
continued to appear at consistent spacing across the middle pation and terminated bars were able to limit the size of the
bonded region, with no cracks forming outside the middle cracks in the middle bonded region. Ultimately, the observed
bonded region during the tests, including the final monotonic cracking behavior of the test specimens was consistent with
loading in tension. The lack of cracking in the unbonded the expected behavior of the brace described in Oh et al.1
regions provided evidence that no significant forces were However, future testing is needed to ensure that the reinforce-

ment design can prevent crack growth in specimens subjected
to the full intended reversed-cyclic loading sequence.
Figure 19 shows the cracking predicted from the numerical

analyses of specimen 4 at crack initiation and at the end of the
final monotonic tension loading. Similar to the experimental
test results, cracking developed within and perpendicular to
the middle bonded region. However, the predicted crack spac-
ings were much smaller than the spacings in the experiments.
Also, whereas the crack pattern in the models remained the
same under increased loads, the experiments had only a few
widely spaced cracks at initiation, with more cracks appearing
as the test progressed (Fig. 18). These discrepancies between
the simulated and experimental crack patterns can likely be
attributed to the tension-stiffening model for the concrete
and bond model for the reinforcing bars, and adjustments to
those models should be investigated in future research. The
finite element mesh details of the middle bonded region also
greatly influenced the size and location of the cracks in the
numerical model. This is demonstrated in Fig. 19 by com-
paring the predicted crack patterns from two models. In the
first model, the middle bonded region is discretized using a
semistructured mesh separating the region into identical 2.35
in. (59.7 mm) wide segments, while the second model uses
an unstructured mesh with an average finite element size
of around 1.5 in. (38 mm). More details on meshing can be
found in the finite element analysis program documentation.36
Significantly fewer cracks that were wider and spaced further
apart developed in the semistructured model. Despite these Figure 20. Energy-dissipation bar and terminated bar strains
differences, both models had identical global brace behaviors in unbonded and middle bonded regions of specimen 4.
Note: ED = energy-dissipation bar; TB = terminated bar.
(stiffness, strength), with the total axial deformation in the
1 in. = 25.4 mm.
middle bonded region being the same for both models. This
parity indicates that the differences in mesh details and crack
simulation did not greatly affect other aspects of the simulated
brace behavior.
Energy-dissipation bar and terminated

bar strains
Figure 20 presents the measured strains of the energy-dissi-

pation and terminated bars at the midlength of the unbonded
regions and at the midlength of the brace (midlength of the
bonded region) for specimen 4. For the energy-dissipation
bars in the unbonded regions, several strain gauges failed
before the monotonic loading of the brace in tension; thus,
only the available sensor data are shown. Because of the
larger stiffness of the brace in compression, yielding of the
unbonded lengths of the energy-dissipation bars in compres-
sion generally occurred at a smaller brace deformation than
yielding in tension.
Unlike the energy-dissipation bars in the unbonded regions,

none of the bars at the midlength of the brace yielded in com-
pression. The tensile strains of the bars at the mid-length of
Figure 21. Average of energy-dissipation bar and terminated
the brace were also limited, demonstrating that the terminated bar strains for specimen 4, with ratios of average terminated
reinforcement was generally able to limit the tensile strains bar strains to average energy dissipation bar strains at the
at the mid-length of the brace, even as the unbonded regions peak points of each loading cycle. Note: ED = energy-dissipa-
of the energy-dissipation bars were yielding. However, one tion bar; TB = terminated bar. 1 in. = 25.4 mm.

Table 3. Measured and simulated postcracking effective initial stiffnesses
Simulated stiffness, Measured stiffness, Ratio of simulated to

Specimen Loading
kip/in. kip/in. measured stiffness
Tension 565 598 0.94

1
Compression 1137 1075 1.06
Tension 565 574 0.98

2
Tension 565 598 0.94

3
Tension 565 556 1.02

4
Note: 1 kip/in. = 0.175 kN/mm.
of the terminated bar strain gauges exceeded yield before the Initial stiffness
monotonic tension pull, and both of the terminated bar strain
gauges and half of the energy-dissipation bar strain gauges at The experimental results showed the expected differences
the midlength of the brace exceeded yield during the mono- between the axialtension and compression stiffnesses of the
tonic tension pull of the brace, despite all of the bars at the brace within the early cycles of each test. The graphs in Fig.
midlength of the brace being designed to remain elastic. 12 and 14 show this stiffness difference, attributed to concrete
cracking and its effect on the deformations of the bonded
Based on the design approach in Oh et al.,1 the total area of the regions of the brace (including the middle regions and the
terminated bars was determined as a percentage (approximately end block/corbel regions). Specifically, while the unbonded
30%) of the total energy-dissipation bar area. This approach regions (governed by the energy-dissipation bar area) contrib-
assumed that the terminated bars and the energy-dissipation bars uted similarly to the tension and compression stiffnesses of
across the cracks of the bonded region have the same strain. To the brace, the contribution of the bonded regions was much
investigate the validity of this assumption at the midlength of the smaller in tension than in compression due to the cracking of
brace, Fig. 21 shows the average strain of the energy-dissipation the concrete. Ultimately, this behavior resulted in the tension
bars and the average strain of the terminated bars prior to the stiffness of the brace to be smaller than the compression
monotonic tension pull, as well as the ratio of the average strain stiffness.
of the terminated bars to the average strain of the energy-dissi-
pation bars at the peak points of each loading cycle. The average Table 3 compares the measured postcracking effective
strain ratios clearly show that the terminated bars had larger initial stiffnesses and the axial finite element model predic-
strains than the energy-dissipation bars at the midlengthof the tions for the specimens. The effective initial stiffness was
brace, especially when the brace was loaded in tension. These calculated as the slope of the line between the origin and
results indicate that the design assumption of equal strain for the the point corresponding to approximately 50% of the yield
energy-dissipation and terminated bars did not hold. strength on the backbone curve of the brace diagonal (axial)
force versus diagonal (work point-to-work point) defor-
The different strain behaviors between the terminated and mation behavior. The numerical models provided the same
energy-dissipation bars at the midlength of the brace may effective tension stiffness and the same effective compres-
have stemmed from differences in bar size (no. 4 [13M] bars sion stiffness for all four specimens regardless of the test
as energy-dissipation reinforcement and no. 3 [10M] bars as variables, such as the brace section size. In general, the
terminated reinforcement), actual yield strengths, and bond differences between the measured post-cracking effective
development. Future research should test braces with dif- stiffnesses of the specimens were also small, especially in
ferent sizes and total areas of terminated bars to investigate tension. These results show that the brace section size and
conditions to prevent tensile yielding of the bars in the middle use of rubber pads had relatively small effects on the effec-
bonded region of the brace. As described in Oh et al.,1 this is tive stiffness of the braces in tension and compression. This
important in order to maintain a relatively large stiffness of may be expected since the brace stiffnesses in both tension
the middle bonded region of the brace. and compression are largely governed by the energy-dis-
sipation reinforcement area, which was the same between
Bar strains should be measured at multiple sections over the the specimens. The measured compression stiffnesses of
bonded length of the brace to investigate the development of the tested specimens were about 1.3 to 1.8 times the cor-
the terminated and energy-dissipation bars. responding compression stiffnesses, consistent with the

Figure 22. Gap opening and closing deformations: comparison between finite element method (FEM) and experimental back-
bone results. Note: 1 in. = 25.4 mm; 1 kip = 4.448 kN.
predicted behavior with some allowance for variability. The

simulated-to-measured stiffness ratios listed in Table 3 show
that the predictions were within 6% of the measured tension
stiffness, whereas the compression stiffness was overpredict-
ed by as much as 57% for specimen 4.
In general, ratios between the simulated and measured effec-

tive initial stiffness varied based on the point on the backbone
curve that was selected for the calculation of stiffness. In
addition to the modeling of tension stiffening for concrete
and bond for the reinforcing bars, some of the discrepancies
in the predicted stiffnesses may have been due to the mod-
eling of the end blocks. Specifically, the end blocks were Figure 23. Ratio of total gap deformation to the total work
point–to–work point deformation of specimen 1 between the
modeled using a simplified prismatic geometry without the beginning of the displacement-controlled cycles and initiation
corbels. Furthermore, the end blocks in the test specimens of brace failure. Note: FEM = finite element method model.
were precompressed by clamping forces, likely changing their
cracking behavior compared with the simulations, which did Gap opening and closing
not include these clamping forces. Substantial inaccuracies
between (especially overpredictions) simulated and measured Figure 22 compares the experimental (backbone) and
stiffnesses are common in reinforced concrete components37–39 numerical simulation results for the total axial deformation
because of uncertainties in in-situ boundary conditions and across the top and bottom end gaps (gap opening in tension
material properties (such as concrete stiffness, shrinkage and closing in compression plotted against the brace force).
cracks) in experimental testing as well as difficulties in ac- Although the deformations from the top and bottom gaps
curately modeling the stiffness of cracked reinforced con- were added in these comparisons, the measured behavior at
crete. As such, the ratios in Table 3 provide evidence that the the two gaps were approximately the same. The results show
relatively simple methods that approximate the brace behavior a good match between the experimental and numerical model
as an axial member (ignoring its rotations) are reasonable. results, indicating that the methods used to approximate
However, given the relatively large error for the effective the gap deformations of the brace as an axial element are
stiffness of specimen 4 in compression, future research should appropriate. Note that the sensors used to measure the gap
investigate methods for more accurate stiffness prediction of deformations were no longer viable after significant buckling
this novel brace. of the energy-dissipation bars. Therefore, the reported results

only include the gap behavior before buckling. The test stiffnesses of the bars across the end gaps were adequate
observations indicated that buckling of the energy-dissipa- to prevent buckling failure until the bars yielded.
tion bars generally caused the deformations to become more
uneven across each end gap. • The middle bonded regions of the brace specimens gen-
erally performed as designed within the early stages of
Figure 23 shows the ratio of the total gap deformation to the testing, with no damage other than well-distributed crack-
total work point–to–work point deformation of specimen 1. ing. However, the design of the terminated reinforcement
For clarity, the graph only shows the ratios at the peak points must be modified to prevent yielding of the bonded
from each loading cycle, and only in the range of behavior energy-dissipation bars and terminated bars during the
after displacement control began but before buckling of the larger deformations of the brace in tension. the design
energy-dissipation bars occurred. assumption that the strains in the terminated bars and
energy-dissipation bars across the cracks of the bonded
Almost all of the deformations of the brace in compression region would be the same did not hold.
were within the end gaps, with an average ratio of around
0.90. In contrast, the deformations in tension had an average • The unbonded regions of the braces performed as de-
ratio of around 0.50, indicating that other brace deformations signed, with no visible cracking of the concrete and most
(primarily cracking of the concrete in the regions) contribut- deformations of the brace concentrated in the end gaps.
ed to the total brace deformation. The corresponding ratios
from the numerical modeling of the brace (0.90 and 0.65 • The brace behavior in compression was largely governed
for compression and tension, respectively) matched well for by the gap regions, but the effect of the gaps was signifi-
compression, but there were larger discrepancies for tension, cantly reduced in tension due to the additional deforma-
which can be attributed to the aforementioned differences in tions that occurred in the cracked bonded regions of the
the cracking and stiffness of the bonded regions. Ultimately, brace.
these results confirm that the brace behavior in compression
is largely governed by the end gaps, but the effect of the gaps • The differences between the measured postcracking
is significantly reduced in tension. The finite element analysis effective initial axial stiffnesses of the specimens were
comparisons show that the simplified axial modeling approach small, especially in tension. Thus, experimental variables,
provides a reasonable approximation to this behavior. such as the brace section size, had relatively small effects
on the effective stiffness of the braces. The effective stiff-
Conclusion ness in compression was approximately 1.3 to 1.8 times
the effective stiffness in tension in line with the reduction
This study experimentally investigated the reversed-cyclic of stiffness due to cracking in the bonded regions.imately
pseudostatic lateral load behavior of a novel reinforced 1.3 to 1.7 times the tension stiffnesses, in line with the
concrete buckling-restrained brace component. The experi- expected smaller tension stiffness of the brace due to
mental program included the design of four test specimens cracking of the bonded regions.
at one-third length scale, casting the braces within diagonal
subassemblies, and testing the specimens under lateral load- • Friction of the plastic-wrapped energy-dissipation bars
ing with the brace in its diagonal configuration. A simplified within the unbonded regions provided a small amount of
uniaxial numerical model of the brace was also developed and energy dissipation during the initial loading cycles of the
evaluated based on the experimental results. The following brace.
conclusions were made from this research:
• The monotonic tension loading applied after buckling
• Local buckling of the energy-dissipation bars across the failure of the specimens demonstrated large displace-
end gaps is the most critical failure mode that can limit ments (exceeding 3% story drift) without fracture of the
the ductility of the brace in compression. This buckling energy-dissipation bars. Subsequent unloading of the
can manifest as either translational (sliding) buckling braces provided evidence of the large energy dissipation
relative to the corbels or torsional (twisting) buckling of that can be expected if premature failure mechanisms of
the brace about its axis. the brace can be prevented.
• An axially uncoupled round steel shear dowel placed at • The simplified axial numerical models provided generally
the center of the brace section based on previous numeri- good predictions of the measured brace behavior until
cal research was able to prevent the translational buckling failure. The most significant limitation of these models is
of the energy-dissipation bars; however, this dowel design the the inability to predict the torsional buckling of the en-
did not prevent the torsional buckling of the bars. ergy-dissipation bars. Other discrepancies included crack
patterns, longitudinal reinforcement strains, and compres-
• The buckling failure of the energy-dissipation bars coin- sion and tension stiffnesses of the bonded regions of the
cided with the yielding of the bars as the brace was load- brace, as well as friction-induced energy dissipation in the
ed in compression. Thus, the elastic shear and torsional unbonded regions of the energy-dissipation bars.

Additional research is necessary to determine the design is gratefully acknowledged. The authors sincerely thank Matt
details for the desired ductile behavior of the brace. The fol- Ballain, vice president/general manager, and Michael Owings,
lowing are specific topics recommended for future research: engineering manager, at Coreslab Structures Inc. (Indianapo-
lis). The energy-dissipation bars used in the brace specimens
• development of numerical models that can predict the tor- were provided by nVent LENTON, and the grout used in the
sional buckling failure of the energy-dissipation bars and tie-down fixture pockets was provided by Master Builders
better represent the stiffness of the bonded regions Solutions USA; the authors thank Manuel Conde, regional
sales manager at nVent LENTON, and Daniel Termunde,
• testing of specimens with different shear dowel designs, national account manager, Power and Industrial, at Master
such as different dowel shapes and multiple dowels Builders Solutions USA, for this support. Any opinions,
across each end gap, to prevent torsional buckling of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in the
energy-dissipation bars paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the individuals and organizations acknowledged
• testing of specimens with different terminated bar sizes herein.
and areas to prevent yielding of the longitudinal rein-
forcement in the middle bonded region of the brace References
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About the authors Abstract
Shane Oh, PhD, graduated from This paper describes an experimental investigation
the Department of Civil and of a novel reinforced concrete buckling-restrained
Environmental Engineering and brace for precast concrete lateral load-resisting frame
Earth Sciences at the University of structures in seismic regions. The proposed brace uses
Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind. ductile reinforcing bars with unbonded lengths across
Email Oh at soh6@alumni.nd.edu. end gaps and bonded lengths at the middle region for
lateral stiffness, strength, energy dissipation, and duc-
Lily A. Polster, MSc, is a project tility. The experimental program included four isolated
engineer at Frost Engineering & diagonal brace subassemblies subjected to reversed-cy-
Consulting in Mishawaka, Ind. clic pseudostatic lateral loading. Local buckling of the
Email Polster at lpolster@alumni. energy-dissipation bars across the end gaps is the most
nd.edu. critical failure mode that can limit the ductility of the
brace in compression. Up to this failure, the bonded
and unbonded regions of the braces performed as de-
Mark P. Manning, PhD, is a signed. The results demonstrated the different defor-
research scientist in the Depart- mation and stiffness behaviors of the braces in tension
ment of Civil and Environmental and compression. Subsequent loading to large tension
Engineering and Earth Sciences at displacements provided evidence of the large energy
the University of Notre Dame. dissipation that can be expected if premature failure of
Email Manning at mmannin9@ the brace can be prevented. Simplified numerical mod-
nd.edu. els provided good predictions of the measured brace
behavior until failure. This research featured the first
Jon Mohle, MSc, SE, is a senior set of tests for this brace, and the results highlighted
product and market manager at adjustments needed to design and modeling to achieve
Clark Pacific in Sacramento, Calif. the desired behavior of the brace. Recommendations
Email Mohle at jmohle@clarkpa- for future research include improved shear dowel and
cific.com. confinement designs to prevent local buckling of the
energy-dissipation bars and improved longitudinal
reinforcement designs to prevent yielding of the ener-
Brad D. Weldon, PhD, is a gy-dissipation bars in the middle bonded region of the
teaching professor in the Depart- braces.
ment of Civil and Environmental
Engineering and Earth Sciences Keywords
at the University of Notre Dame.
Email Weldon at bweldon@nd. Buckling-restrained braced frame, nonlinear finite
edu. element analysis, precast concrete later-load-resisting
frame, reinforced concrete buckling-restrained brace,
Yahya C. Kurama, PhD, PE, is a seismic design, seismic failure, structural laboratory
professor in the Department of testing.
Civil and Environmental Engi-
neering and Earth Sciences at the Review policy
University of Notre Dame in
Notre Dame, Ind. Email Kurama This paper was reviewed in accordance with the Pre-
at ykurama@nd.edu. cast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s peer-review pro-
cess. The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute is not
responsible for statements made by authors of papers
in PCI Journal. No payment is offered.

Publishing details
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V. 68, No. 6, November–December 2023, and can be
found at https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij68.6-03. PCI
Journal is published bimonthly by the Precast/Pre-
stressed Concrete Institute, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.,
Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60631. Copyright © 2023,
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute.
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Matt Ballain, Chair, Coreslab Lloyd Kennedy, Institute Program Patty Peterson, Institute Program
Structures (INDIANAPOLIS) Director, Educational Activities, Director, Business Performance,
Jim Fabinski, Vice Chair, EnCon Finfrock Industries LLC Tindall Corp.
Colorado Brent Koch, Producer Member Richard Potts, Producer Member
Carlos Cerna, Secretary-Treasurer, Director, PCI West, Con-Fab Director, Georgia/Carolinas PCI,
Manco Structures Ltd. California LLC Standard Concrete Products Inc.
J. Matt DeVoss, Immediate Past Cheryl Lang, At-Large Member, Tindall Jim Renda, Associate Member
Chair, Jackson Precast Inc. Corp. Director, Supplier, Cresset Chemical
Bob Risser, President and CEO, PCI Matt Mahonski, Producer Member Co.
Director, PCI Central, High Concrete Lenny Salvo, Producer Member
Dusty Andrews, Producer Member Group Director, Florida Chapter, Coreslab
Director, PCI Washington/Oregon, David Malaer, Producer Member Structures (ORLANDO) Inc.
Knife River Corp.–Northwest Director, Texas, Oklahoma, New Peter Simoneau, Producer Member
Dennis Cilley, Associate Member Mexico, Valley Prestress Products Inc. Director, PCI Northeast, Dailey
Director, Erector, American Steel & Jane Martin, Institute Program Director, Precast
Precast Erectors Marketing, Gate Precast Co. Ben Spruill, Producer Member
Ned Cleland, Professional Member Brian Miller, Associate Member Director, PCI Gulf South, Gulf Coast
Director, Blue Ridge Design Inc. Director, Supplier, GCP Applied Prestress Partners
Todd Culp, Producer Member Technologies Inc. Kimberly Wacker, At-Large Member,
Director, PCI Midwest, Coreslab James Miller, Producer Member Wells
Structures (OMAHA) Inc. Director, PCI of Illinois & Wisconsin Lee Wegner, Producer Member
Brandon Farley, Producer Member Richard A. Miller, Institute Program Director, PCI Mountain States,
Director, PCI Midwest, EnCon Field Director, Technical Activities, Forterra Structural Precast
Services LLC University of Cincinnati Mike Wolff, Institute Program
Evan Fink, Producer Member Christopher Mosley, Professional Director, Quality Activities,
Director, PCI Mid-Atlantic, Member Director, The Consulting Mid-States Concrete Industries LLC
Northeast Prestressed Products Engineers Group Inc. Diep Tu, Regional Council
LLC Andrew Osborn, Institute Representative, Nonvoting, Florida
Troy Jenkins, Institute Program Program Director, Research and Prestressed Concrete Association
Director, Transportation Activities, Development, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Colin Van Kampen, Membership
Northeast Prestressed Products Associates Inc. Council Representative, Nonvoting,
Structures Inc.
Technical Activities Council

Chair Richard A. Miller Dusty Andrews John Lawler
Vice Chair Christopher Mosley Suzanne Aultman Alex Mihaylov
Secretary Jared Brewe Ned M. Cleland Barry McKinley
Ex-officio, fib Representative Harry Gleich Pinar Okumus
Larbi Sennour Mary Ann Griggas-Smith Andrew Osborn
Ex-officio, Code Representatives David Jablonsky Timothy Salmons
S. K. Ghosh and Stephen V. Skalko Wayne Kassian Stephen J. Seguirant
Yahya Kurama Venkatesh Seshappa

PCI staff
Tom Bagsarian (312) 428-4945 tbagsarian@pci.org Editorial content manager
Laura Bedolla (312) 360-3218 lbedolla@pci.org Technical activities program manager
Lauren Bell (312) 583-6775 lbell@pci.org Education and publications coordinator
Jared Brewe (312) 360-3213 jbrewe@pci.org Technical services vice president
Trina Brown (312) 360-3590 tbrown@pci.org Transportation systems program manager
K. Michelle Burgess (312) 282-8160 mburgess@pci.org PCI Journal managing editor
Jaques Cattan (312) 360-3205 jcattan@pci.org Quality programs managing director
Nikole Clow (312) 360-3202 nclow@pci.org Marketing manager
Royce Covington (312) 428-4946 rcovington@pci.org Member services manager
Timothy Cullen (312) 360-3206 tcullen@pci.org Technical activities director
Cher Doherty (312) 583-6781 cdoherty@pci.org Events director
Shelly Encher (312) 360-3203 sencher@pci.org Membership director
Walter Furie (312) 583-6772 wfurie@pci.org Production senior specialist
Edith Gallandorm (312) 360-3219 egallandorm@pci.org Codes and standards managing director
Cody Kauhl (312) 583-6778 ckauhl@pci.org Web developer
Michael Kesselmayer (312) 583-6770 mkesselmayer@pci.org Quality programs managing director

Market development and education managing
Becky King (312) 360-3201 bking@pci.org
director
Tom Klemens (312) 583-6773 tklemens@pci.org Publications director
Ken Kwilinski (312) 428-4944 kkwilinski@pci.org Quality systems manager
Carolina Lopez (312) 583-6774 clopez@pci.org Certification programs coordinator

Membership and administrative services
Philip McConnell (312) 583-6783 pmcconnell@pci.org
coordinator
John McConvill (312) 360-3208 jmcconvill@pci.org Controller
Bekki Missaggia (312) 360-3215 bmissaggia@pci.org Education manager
Noel Morales (312) 786-0300 nmorales@pci.org Certification coordinator
William Nickas (312) 583-6776 wnickas@pci.org Transportation systems managing director
Bob Risser (312) 360-3204 brisser@pci.org President and chief executive officer
Lisa Scacco (312) 583-6782 lscacco@pci.org Publications manager
Neal Sherman (312) 786-0300 nsherman@pci.org Senior staff accountant
Mike Smith (312) 786-0300 msmith@pci.org Information technology manager
Beth Taylor (312) 583-6780 btaylor@pci.org Chief financial and administrative officer
Information technology and events
Cindi Ward (312) 360-3214 cward@pci.org
coordinator
Randy Wilson (312) 428-4940 rwilson@pci.org Architectural precast systems director

Regional offices
Florida Prestressed Concrete PCI of Illinois & Wisconsin PCI Northeast
Association Joe Lombard Rita Seraderian
Diep Tu Phone: (312) 505-1858 Phone: (617) 484-0506
Phone: (407) 758-9966 Email: joe@pci-iw.org Email: contact@pcine.org
Email: diep@myfpca.org PCI-IW.org PCINE.org
MyFPCA.org
PCI Mid-Atlantic PCI West
Georgia/Carolinas PCI Dawn Decker Ruth Lehmann
Marti Harrell Phone: (717) 682-1215 Phone: (949) 420-3638
Phone: (317) 435-8523 Email: dawn@pci-ma.org Email: info@pciwest.org
Email: marti.harrell@gcpci.org PCI-MA.org PCIWest.org
GCPCI.org
PCI Midwest Precast Concrete Manufacturers’
PCI Central Region Mike Johnsrud Association
Phil Wiedemann Phone: (952) 806-9997 Chris Lechner
Phone: (937) 833-3900 Email: mike@pcimidwest.org Phone: (866) 944-7262
Email: phil@pci-central.org PCIMidwest.org Email: chris@precastcma.org
PCI-Central.org PrecastCMA.org
PCI Mountain States
PCI Gulf South Jim Schneider
Dan Eckenrode Phone: (303) 562-8685
Phone: (228) 239-3409 Email: jschneider@pcims.org
Email: pcigulfsouth1@att.net PCIMS.org
PCIGulfSouth.org
Coming ahead
Connections
• Shear transfer in bolted precast column connections
• Design of novel moment resisting beam-column
connections for precast concrete construction
Also
• Theoretical investigation of the behavior of reinforced
concrete ledge beams
• Numerical and digital image correlation study of
the flexural behavior of prestressed ultra-high-
performance concrete beams made from locally
available materials

Meet Lee Lawrence
Solving precast concrete problems

William Atkinson
L ee Lawrence, regional director and

senior principal with Wiss, Janney,
Elstner Associates (WJE), an engineering,
tems, for helping him become familiar with the organization.
“I was fortunate to be recruited into PCI by John Dick in the
mid-1990s while I was serving as a director in the Structural
architectural, and materials sciences firm, Group of TxDOT’s Materials & Tests Division,” he says. “In
was born in Florida but ended up spending this role, I oversaw a group of engineers and technicians who
the majority of his childhood and subse- handled TxDOT’s quality assurance responsibilities for all
quent adult life in Central Texas, primarily prefabricated concrete products used in the highway infra-
the Austin area. structure. John recruited me into PCI’s Plant Certification
Lawrence attended the University of Texas at Austin start- Committee, where I served for a number of years and con-
ing in 1982, majoring in civil engineering with an emphasis on tributed to revision efforts of MNL 116 and 117 QC/QA
structures and materials for both his BS and MS degrees. Manuals,” the Manual for Quality Control for Plants and
His interest in the industry stemmed from working with Production of Structural Precast Concrete Products and Manual
family. “My father was a concrete contractor, and I spent sev- for Quality Control for Plants and Production of Architectural
eral summers working for his company,” Lawrence says. “This Precast Concrete Products, respectively.
was my first exposure to the concrete construction industry, Once Lawrence joined PCI, he found many new opportu-
and it certainly helped motivate me to stay in school but also nities to contribute to the organization and, thus, the industry
fired up my interest in the industry.” and profession. “John’s effort to recruit me and my subsequent
After college and prior to joining WJE, Lawrence worked participation on the Plant Certification Committee had a
for a highway contractor for a few years and for the Texas significant impact on me both professionally and personally,”
Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for almost 12 he says. “It was a wonderful and talented group of committee
years. “Both of these jobs included significant amounts of con- members, and having the opportunity to work with them ulti-
crete-related work,” he says. mately led and inspired me to focus most of my professional
Lawrence left TxDOT in 1999 to join WJE, a firm with activities through PCI.”
which he had become familiar while working for TxDOT. Lawrence has filled a number of roles in PCI, include serv-
“While at TxDOT, we had retained WJE to provide consulting on the Concrete Materials Technology Committee, which
ing services to help us mitigate a new type of concrete issue he chaired for six years. He was also a member of the PCI
called delayed ettringite formation,” he says. “Prior to TxDOT Technical Activities Council for six years and has been on the
retaining WJE, I was unaware of the problem-solving field of Research and Development Council for the past five years. “I
engineering. I became fascinated with the practice of solving was also the technical editor of the third edition of MNL 116,”
complex structural and material problems in structures, in he says.
particular, concrete structures.” Lawrence says that when he Asked what he enjoys most about the precast concrete
decided it was time to make a move from TxDOT, he was for- industry, Lawrence says, “Aside from the fact that it is such an
tunate enough to get an opportunity to join WJE and pursue amazing and important construction material, I have greatly
his new passion there. enjoyed having the opportunity to work in many different
Lawrence began at WJE as an entry-level project manager capacities of the industry for essentially my entire career.”
and was then given the opportunity to help establish and serve His favorite precast concrete project was the Veterans
as the unit manager of the WJE Austin office. He served in this Memorial Bridge that was constructed adjacent to the
role until 2014, when he was given the opportunity to build Rainbow Bridge in Beaumont, Tex., starting in 1988. “This
the company’s new practice develpoment function. “A couple was my first precast project as a young engineer with TxDOT
of years later I also became the executive director of our South that involved inspection of the fabrication of the segmental
Region, a position I still hold,” he says. box girders in Victoria, Texas. It was a fascinating and chal-
When it comes to his involvement with PCI, Lawrence lenging project and was a great learning experience on many
credits John Dick, former PCI director of transportation sys- different fronts.”
PCI Journal | November-December 2023 95

SPECIFY PCI CERTIFICATION
THERE IS NO EQUIVALENT
Photo courtesy of
USC/Gus Ruelas.
The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) certifications are the industry’s

most proven, comprehensive, trusted, and specified certification programs.
The PCI Plant Certification Program is accredited by the International Accreditation
Service (IAS), which provides objective evidence that an organization operates
at the highest level of ethical, legal, and technical standards. This accreditation
demonstrates compliance to ISO/IEC 17021-1. PCI Certification offers a complete
regimen covering personnel, plant, and field operations. This assures owners,
specifiers, and designers that precast concrete products are manufactured and
installed by companies who subscribe to nationally accepted standards and are
audited to ensure compliance.
To learn more about PCI Certification, please visit pci.org/certification
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November–December 2023

volume 68, Number 6

Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute

At Coreslab Structures, we engage Hamilton Form at the

Nobody Does It Better

Nobody does it better, together –

For more than 55 years -

Hamilton Form Company

Your Connection Connection

24 Review of Supplementary Cementitious Materials with Implications 46

Experimental Investigation of a Novel Reinforced Concrete 65

this way. Courtesy of Lloyd

PCI Staff Directory 93

EDITORIAL DESIGN & PRODUCTION

This paper is milled from a 3rd-party certified source

PCI Journal | November–December 2023

2023 summer tour

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 5

CONAC NEW LIFTING PRODUCTS

WAVED TAIL DOUBLE TEE FORGED ERECTION TECH ERECTION

SERVING THE PRECAST

Photo courtesy of Northeast Precast

WE SAVE YOU TIME, LABOR & MONEY!

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 7

G eorgia/Carolinas PCI has named

educational efforts to grow the precast, PCI names Cattan quality

PCI chapter, Harrell held many positions at the National

8 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

Pioneering innovation in precast concrete education

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 9

PCI personnel training and certification schools

Compiled by K. Michelle Burgess (mburgess@pci.org) J

10 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT PCI.ORG OR CONTACT EVENTS@PCI.ORG.

Wells names Stenzel CarbonCure Technologies

W ells has promoted Dan Stenzel to vice president of

F abcon Precast, based in Minneapolis, Minn., has acquired

12 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 13

B ruce Christensen has been named president of Master

14 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 15

PCI’s newly certified plants and erectors

Compiled by K. Michelle Burgess (mburgess@pci.org) J

16 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

Compiled by K. Michelle Burgess (mburgess@pci.org) J

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 17

UHPC used in first-in-nation

T he Steel District is a new riverfront destination designed

18 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

B altimore Gas and Electric (BGE), a Maryland-based

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 19

Introducing precast concrete

20 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

The Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge comprised three

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 21

Load deflection relationship final load cycle. Source: Magnel (1950).

22 PCI Journal | November–December 2023

Have a research idea?

We urge readers to send in their research ideas to

PCI Journal | November–December 2023 23

Ahmet Ata Kulaksizoglu, Cetin Yilmaz, and Cem Yalcin

24 PCI Journal | November–December 2023