Hysteresis Behaviour of Precast Shear Wall – Slab Connection under Reverse Cyclic Loading

Abstract

Abstract An experimental study focused on precast shear wall-slab joint failure is presented in this paper. For the precast specimen, the shear wall and slab are precast members and were connected with cast-in situ concrete using dowel bars. The specimen was tested under reverse cyclic loading and the structural behaviour of the connection was evaluated. The parameters considered are cracking pattern, hysteresis behaviour, energy dissipation and ductility. This study also aimed to develop 3-D finite element (FE) model of precast shear wall – slab dowel connection using ABAQUS software in order to investigate the joint failure of the specimen such as damage and hysteresis behaviour. The non-linear behaviour of concrete was defined using concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) model and the interactions between the precast members were modelled using cohesive element. FE model was then validated against the experimental results of precast dowel connection which are vulnerable to wall-slab joint shear failure. The failure pattern of the tested specimen showed the “Strong joint-Weak member” concept. The comparison between experimental and numerical results showed that the FE model developed was capable of simulating the seismic performance and the joint failure of precast shear wall-slab connection using dowel bars.