Seismic retrofitting of single-storey RC precast buildings through a novel metallic hysteretic device

Structural joints are generally the most critical parts of RC precast structures in terms of seismic assessment, especially in existing buildings, where friction connections can be often found. This issue, widely highlighted in the aftermath of recent earthquakes in Europe, have brought the scientific community to develop retrofitting techniques improving the seismic performance of the connections. The presented work deals with a dissipative hysteretic device, made of two steel rods, arranged as a three-hinged arch, and provided with moon sickle shaped items. It is applied at the beam-to-column connection level and it is intended for both restraining the relative displacements between the joined structural elements and dissipating energy coming from the earthquake. In the presented study, the innovative device is described in detail along with its numerical model, as applied to an existing single-story RC precast structure with beam-to-column friction connections. The results of preliminary numerical analysis showing its efficiency are also reported.