Horizontal
Connections
for
Precast
Concrete
Shear
Wall
Panels
Under
Cyclic
Shear
Loading
Khaled A. Soudkl
Ph.D., P.Eng.
Adjunct Assistant Professor and
NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of
Civil Engineering
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Jeffrey
S.
West
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of
Civil Engineering
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
Sami
H.
Rizkalla
Ph.D., P.Eng.
Professor
Department of Civil and
Geological Engineering
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Bruce Blackett, P.Eng.
Vice President and
General Manager
Con-Force
Structures Ltd.
Winnipeg. Manitoba, Canada
The
performance
of
precast
concrete
loadbearing
shear
wall
panel
structures
during an earthquake relies
on
the behavior
and integrity
of
the connections between
the panels.
Design
of
these
structures
requires the ability
to
predict the behavior
of
the
connections.
This
paper
presents
results
of
an
experimental
study
of
horizontal
connections
for
precast
wall
panels subjected
to
reversed cyclic shear
deformations
combined
with
simulated
gravity loads normal
to
the connection.
The
study
considered
typical
connection
configurations currently used
in
practice.
The
influence
of
mild steel reinforcement, post-
tensioning and shear keys
was
investigated.
Experimental results
were
used
to
determine
the
cyclic behavior
of
the
connections and
to
identify the contribution
of
the connection
components. Simple rational models were
proposed
to
predict the limit states
of
the
connections.
Two
numerical
design
examples
are
included
to
illustrate
the
proposed
models.
Based
on the study,
design recommendations are presented.
T
he precast concrete loadbearing shear wall panel sys-
tem is an economical construction system for low,
medium and high rise structures. This form
of
multi-
story structural system is composed
of
large precast con-
crete wall panels and floor panels arranged to form box-like
apartment or office size spaces. The walls
of
the structure
carry
both the gravity and lateral loads on the structure and
an intermediate frame is not required. The wall panels are
typically one story
in height and are connected both hori-
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