Seismic behaviour of precast shear walls connected using prestressed horizontal beams

To facilitate construction and on-site quality testing, a new type of panel joint using cast-in-place connecting beams was developed and studied. The proposed connecting beams consist of overlapping vertical U-shaped steel bars stretching out of the wall and the footing, longitudinal prestressed steel strands, L-shaped steels and infilled high-strength grout. One monolithic shear wall specimen and five precast specimens were tested under simulated seismic loads. The test parameters studied included the presence or absence of L-shaped steel, sectional depths and the locations of connecting beams and locally non-bonded U-shaped steel bars. The effects of these parameters on the failure modes, hysteresis curves, stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capacity were evaluated. The test results showed that the precast shear walls with the proposed panel joint achieved desirable seismic behaviour – comparable to or better than that of monolithic specimens – and can thus be safely applied in buildings in seismic zones. The use of L-shaped steel, prestressed steel strands and high-strength grout effectively delayed concrete crushing at the wall toes and thus improved the loading capacity, deformation capacity, initial stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the precast shear walls.