ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the basic principles and some of the design and analysis procedures, involved in the design of precast concrete skeletal structures, essentially a beam-column framework possibly braced using walls and/or cores, as well as briefly discusses precast portal frames and wall frames. Preliminary structural design, which many people refer to as the feasibility stage, is more often a recognition of the type of structural frame that is best suited to the form and function of a building than the structural design itself. The creation of a large 'open plan' accommodation giving the widest possible scope for room utilisation clearly calls for a column and slab structure. Monolithic two-dimensional plane frames are analysed using either rigorous elastic analysis, for example moment distribution or stiffness method, either manually or using a computer program. Elastic analysis is used to determine moments, forces and deflections, but a plastic (ultimate) section analysis is used for the design of the components.
