Precast hollow-core floors are used in buildings around the world. But how do they perform in earthquakes?

In our new open-access paper, we study how reinforced concrete moment frames interact with precast hollow-core floor systems under seismic demands. We track the evolution of floor damage, identify where deformation incompatibilities arise, and discuss what this means for the overall system performance.

Key findings:

✅ Floor damage concentrates near the supports, with hollow-core units seated close to columns showing heightened vulnerability.

✅ Cracking in the unreinforced hollow-core floor webs can initiate under low drift demands (~0.4–0.5% drift), within the elastic range of a typical RC frame.

✅ Earthquake-induced cracking can significantly decrease the residual gravity load-carrying capacity of hollow-core floors.

Here is a link to the open-access paper: https://lnkd.in/gynZYXVX