Elastic Displacement Spectrum-Based Design Approach for Precast Concrete Frame with Replaceable Energy-Dissipating Connectors

A precast concrete frame with replaceable energy-dissipating connectors (REDC) is designed as an innovative system. The REDCs are placed at the top and the bottom of the beam-ends to dissipate energy during major earthquakes. A displacement spectrum-based design method is presented, which can directly determine the target period under strong earthquakes. The results of nonlinear time-history analysis of an example structure indicate that the displacement response of the innovative structure under strong earthquakes can be estimated accurately only using elastic response spectrum, without considering additional plastic parameters such as equivalent damping or ductile factor during the design process.