Seismic behaviour of concrete-filled steel tubular column and precast shear wall connections

Abstract

Good seismic behaviour of prefabricated concrete structures is critical to ensure safe long-term performance of residential and engineering structures. Various connection specimens were fabricated, including three prefabricated reinforced-concrete (RC) shear wall and concrete-filled steel tubular column connections, and one reference cast-in-place specimen. Cyclic loading was used to study the effect of the number of shear connectors and concrete strength in a connection zone on the failure mode and hysteresis of the connection. All specimens failed due to failure of shear connectors, where most damage occurred at the connectors and in nearby concrete. When the number of shear connectors increased from 3 to 5, the bearing capacity of the specimens increased by ~35%, while the ductility and energy dissipation capacity also improved. Increasing the concrete strength in the connection zone did not improve significantly the bearing capacity or seismic performance. The bearing capacity of the cast-in-place specimen was similar to that of the equivalent prefabricated precast specimen. Slip between the connection zone and precast RC shear wall resulted in internal force redistribution, resulting in higher ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the prefabricated specimens. Finally, computational analysis of previous models identified the best model for simulating force-slip behaviour of similar connections.