Experimental study on hysteresis behavior of precast concrete double skin shear wall with horizontal loop connection and spiral-confined vertical lap connection

Abstract

Precast concrete double skin shear wall (PCDSSW) is one of the promising precast concrete structural systems for multi- and high-rise buildings, as it has the advantages of convenient construction and sound structural integrity. These walls with story size are usually connected with horizontal and vertical joints. In order to investigate the hysteresis behavior of PCDSSW with joints for broad application in the seismic zone and construction efficiency, four full-scale PCDSSWs with the spiral-confined vertical lap connection were designed with the change of lap length (100 mm and 200 mm) in the horizontal loop connection and test axial compression ratio (ACR, 0.09 and 0.23) and compared with two cast-in-place (CIP) controlling walls by the low reversed cyclic test. Test results revealed that the behavior of PCDSSW specimens was consistent with the design principle for precast shear walls with equivalent monolithic connections. The hysteresis loops of the PCDSSW specimens exhibited a similar pattern as those of the corresponding CIP specimens. Meanwhile, the stiffness degradation and energy dissipation trends in PCDSSW were comparable to that in CIP specimens. All the PCDSSWs had a similar peak strength to the corresponding CIP one, with the difference within-1.5% ∼ +7.4%. The displacement ductility of PCDSSW specimens ranged from 2.97 to 4.04 and 3.50 to 4.42 under the low and high ACR, respectively. The study showed that the PCDSSWs with the loop connection of 200 mm and 100 mm lap length could meet high and medium ductility demand, respectively, and the latter one could ease on-site construction. At last, a tri-linear restoring force model was developed based on the test results to model the hysteresis behavior of different PCDSSWs.