Development of a Novel Replaceable Steel Fuse for Earthquake-Resilient Precast Concrete Frames

Precast concrete frames offer advantages in rapid construction, high-quality industrial production of structural elements, and cost-effectiveness. However, past earthquakes have demonstrated their vulnerability to seismic damage. Although various mitigation methods have been proposed, most are complex to fabricate or fail to meet economic requirements. To address this limitation, the present paper introduces an innovative system integrating replaceable steel links with precast concrete frames, evaluated through parametric and numerical studies. The steel links are simple to fabricate, install, and replace following a major earthquake. Results show that yielding is confined to the steel links, allowing the concrete components to remain elastic. The links thus function as ductile fuses, effectively dissipating seismic energy. Comparing the results indicated that link with shear mechanism has a better performance than links with shear-flexural or flexural mechanism while the ratio of plastic moment of link capacity to the concrete beam remain less than one.

Keywords: Precast concrete frames, Replaceable steel links, Ductile fuses, Seismic energy dissipation, Shear mechanism.