Anchorage capacity of looped wire ropes for connections between precast concrete wall-elements

Abstract

U-bar loop connections have traditionally been used to establish structural continuity between wall-elements in precast concrete buildings. However, recent advancements have introduced the looped wire rope connection as a viable alternative due to its installation benefits. While the strength of the connection itself has been investigated thoroughly, the anchoring of the looped wire ropes inside the wall-element remains under-investigated.This paper presents an experimental study including 66 experiments focusing on the anchorage and associated failure mechanisms of looped wire ropes. The experimental study investigates various design parameters such as the embedment length of the looped wire rope, the u-bar in the concrete element, concrete compressive strength, the comparison between an embedded bolt and looped wire rope, and the size of the test specimen, which represents the distance between wire ropes in a wall element and the wall thickness.On the basis of the experimental evidence, a mechanical model is developed based on the principles of rigid plastic modelling. This model key design parameters into account and provides an understanding of the anchorage of looped wire ropes. The model, backed by a detailed analysis of failure mechanisms using digital image correlation, provides an improvement in predicting the anchorage capacity of looped wire ropes in concrete wall elements.