Experimental Testing of Post‐installed Anchors for Use in Retrofitting of RC Frame with Steel Braces

The retrofitting of deficient Reinforced Concrete (RC) frames, particularly those with strength and stiffness irregularities such as Open Ground Story, has been widely researched. Steel braces are a great option for retrofitting these buildings, but the narrow section sizes of existing beams and columns pose a challenge. However, post‐installed chemical anchors can provide an efficient, cost‐effective solution for connecting such structures with steel braces, provided that they are designed properly to account for all possible failure modes. This study investigates the use of post‐installed chemical anchors to connect steel braces with narrow‐beam column subassemblies in existing low‐ to mid‐rise Open Ground Story buildings. The three experiment are considered to test the bracing conditions with elastic and yielding brace. The gusset plate is designed as per Balanced Design Procedure to obtain an economical section with controlled yielding and failure sequence. The forces on gusset plate are computed using the Uniform Force Method, which helps in designing the post‐installed anchor dimension and spacing. A comparison is drawn between the three test from which it is seen that the chemical anchors perform well in all cases and conventional brace shows expected performance.