Progressive collapse resistance of self-centering infilled precast concrete frame under side column removal scenario

In this study, the collapse experiment of a 1/2 scaled two-story and two-span self-centering precast concrete (PC) infilled frame specimen was carried out by quasi-static pushdown side column regime. The test results indicated that under side column removal scenario, the structural damage only occurred in the span adjacent to the failure column. The incline cracks in the infill wall showed a trend of developing from both sides to the middle portion during the test. Affected by the position of failure column, the initial stiffness and peak resistance of specimen under side column removal scenario were only 0.25 times and 0.44 times that of specimen under middle column removal. Further numerical simulation results indicated that the layout positions of infill wall, the initial prestress between beams and columns as well as the strength of bed joints had a greater effect on the vertical resistance of self-centering PC frames when side column failed. Moreover, the lateral restraints of the side columns on both sides could promote the development of compressive arch action (CAA) and catenary action (CA), and fully mobilized the tensile force of steel strands to undertake vertical load in the large deformation stage of the structure. Finally, a simplified analytical method was proposed to accurately predict the vertical resistance of self-centering PC frames in the CAA stage under side column removal scenario.