Work

Experimental Research on Mechanical Behaviour of Precast Concrete Shear Walls with Horizontal Joint Quality Defects

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In precast concrete shear wall structures, the joints formed during the vertical connection of precast units are referred to as the “horizontal joint”. Serving as vertical connection nodes in this structure system, the construction quality of theses horizontal joints significantly influences the structural integrity. To investigate the influence of horizontal joint quality defects on the mechanical behaviour of precast concrete shear walls, three precast concrete shear wall specimens with quality defects in different regions and three control specimens were designed. Quasi-static tests under a constant axial load were conducted to investigate the effects of defect area, location and other factors on the mechanical behaviour of the walls. Results demonstrate that the quality defects in horizontal joints significantly affect the mechanical behaviour of precast concrete shear walls. When the ratio of the quality defect area to the cross-sectional area of the boundary member reaches 100%, the yield load and peak load of the precast concrete shear wall decrease by 13% and 20%, respectively. Additionally, the structural stiffness exhibited a 13% degradation at a drift angle of 1/1000. Although the failure mode remains largely unchanged, yielding of longitudinal reinforcement in the boundary members is observed. Moreover, as the proportion of the quality defect area to the cross-sectional area decreases, its adverse effects on the mechanical behaviour of the precast concrete shear wall gradually diminish. The established numerical analysis model is shown to be reasonable and reliable. When the defective area of the horizontal joints is less than 25% of the total cross-sectional area, the quality defects essentially have no influence on the mechanical behaviour of the precast concrete shear walls.

Source: Buildings

DOI: 10.3390/buildings15213951

Authors: Mingjin Chu, Zhiqiang Zhang, Jiliang Liu, Shengtao Wu, Chao Dong

Institutions: Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Yantai University

Language: English

Topic: Structural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete

Subfield: Building and Construction

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137

Funder: Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality