Preliminary Testing of a Novel Precast Concrete Buckling-Restrained Brace

This thesis focuses on the experimental testing of four novel precast concrete buckling-restrained brace (BRB) specimens that were tested in the Structural Systems Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. While BRB frames are commonly used for primary lateral-load resistance in steel building construction with great success, they are currently not permitted for precast concrete structures due to extremely limited research. In accordance with the research need in this area, the work described in this thesis experimentally evaluated a non-proprietary reinforced concrete BRB element that is especially suited for precast concrete construction. The thesis explains the experimental testing set-up, describes the casting process of the test specimens, explains the instrumentation and data acquisition system, presents the results from the tests, and draws conclusions and recommendations for future experimental research on precast concrete BRB components as well as precast concrete braced frame structures.