Seismic performance and estimation of flexural bearing capacity of prefabricated engineered cementitious composite shell–reinforced concrete composite column with grouted sleeve connection

Abstract

Engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) have excellent crack control capacity and pseudo-strain-hardening behaviour. They can be used to improve the damage-tolerant capacity of vulnerable parts of structures. To improve the seismic performance of a traditional prefabricated column connected with grouted sleeves (GSs), an innovative prefabricated ECC shell–reinforced concrete (RC) composite column with GSs (ECC–PRC–GSs) is proposed in this paper. Then, three-dimensional nonlinear finite element models of the ECC–PRC–GSs are established and validated with previous experimental results. Subsequently, parametric analysis of the ECC–PRC–GSs is systematically performed to assess the seismic performance of ECC–PRC–GSs. Notably, certain important design suggestions for the ECC–PRC–GSs are proposed. Finally, a theoretical model is developed to predict the flexural bearing capacity of ECC–PRC–GSs based on the strain compatibility and force equilibrium conditions. The effectiveness of the model is verified through finite element analysis and experimental results.