Shear bearing of cross-plate joints between diaphragm wall panels – I: model tests and shear behaviour

This paper, the first part of two companion papers, describes a test programme involving seven specimens and experiments to investigate the effect of three main design parameters of longitudinal steel plates in cross-plate joints on the shear capacity. The load–displacement relationship, cracking of the concrete and strain of the longitudinal steel plate were experimentally measured. It was found that the failure modes of the specimens can be categorised into two types – concrete crushing and steel plate yielding. The failure mode is mainly affected by the relative stiffness of the cross-plate joints, while the ultimate shear load is primarily influenced by the number and area ratio of holes in the longitudinal plates. The paper shows that the available analytical expression for the shear capacity of rib shear connectors cannot be readily applied to cross-plate joints, and therefore further investigations should be conducted to develop a new shear capacity prediction formula for cross-plate joints. This experimental study on the performance of concrete diaphragm walls with cross-plate joints sheds light on the shear failure behaviour of diagram walls and provides some benchmark data for numerical analysis and development of empirical design formulae.