Full scale test of an existing RC frame reinforced with pure aluminium shear panels

In the last decades, many innovative upgrading technologies based on the use of metallic devices have been introduced for seismic protection of existing structures. Within this framework, in the present paper a study related to the seismic upgrading of an existing reinforced concrete frame by means of pure aluminium shear panels is presented. In particular, based on a preliminary experimental evaluation of the performance of the bare RC structure, an appropriate shear panel configuration arrangement has been firstly defined according to a simplified analytical procedure and then checked by adopting a sophisticated FEM model. Therefore, aluminium shear panels, inserted within a reaction steel frame, have been installed at the ground floor of the RC structure. Then, the effectiveness of the adopted upgrading intervention has been validated by means of a cyclic experimental test on the compound RC-aluminium panel system. The obtained results show that the proposed system allows a considerable improvement of the structural capacity of the original structural, in terms of initial stiffness, strength and dissipative capacity.