New Modelling Methodology for Seismic Design of Precast Structures and Performance Evaluation Considering Soil–Foundation System

Precast reinforced concrete (RC) structures are becoming popular in various parts of the globe due to its good quality control and less erection time as compared to monolithic RC structures. However, in Indian construction industry use of such building systems is not gaining impetus due to hesitation of structural designers concerning its seismic safety. In case of precast structure, the joints are not monolithic, and hence, the overall force distribution in the beam–column framing system will be different than that of monolithic RC frame structure. Moreover, the response will also depend on the fixity condition at the ground level. The present work proposes a new iterative process of linear analysis to determine the internal elemental forces, viz. bending moment, shear force and axial load, for precast structure. The performance of the building is assessed using nonlinear static procedure. In addition to this, the effect of soil–foundation system on monolithic and precast structure is also studied. Further, response reduction factor 'R' of all the considered buildings is evaluated for collapse prevention performance level. The obtained results show that the performance of precast structure gets enhanced with the reduced value of R considered for design and analysis. Moreover, it is interesting to note that for the precast structure with soil–foundation system the failure pattern follows a more realistic seismic design philosophy as compared to monolithic structure with soil–foundation system.