No abstract

 Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.  You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain  You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

Funding informationDanish Association for Precast Concrete Elements; COWI Foundation. This paper presents a new and construction-friendly shear connection for the assembly of precast reinforced concrete shear wall elements. In the proposed design, the precast elements have indented interfaces and are connected by a narrow zone grouted with mortar and reinforced with overlapping U-bar loops. Contrary to conventional shear connections, the planes of the U-bar loops are here parallel to the plane of the wall elements. This feature enables a constructionfriendly installation of the elements without the risk of rebars clashing. The core of mortar inside each U-bar loop is reinforced with a transverse double T-headed bar to ensure transfer of tension between the overlapping U-bars. Push-off tests show that a significantly ductile load-displacement response can be obtained by the new solution as compared to the performance of the conventional keyed shear connection design. The influence of the interface indentation geometry was investigated experimentally and the failure modes in the push-off tests were identified by use of digital image correlation (DIC). For strength prediction, rigid plastic upper-bound models have been developed with inspiration from the observed failure mechanisms. Satisfactory agreement between tests and calculations has been obtained. K E Y W O R D Sconcrete plasticity, digital image correlation, ductility, keyed shear connections, robustness | INTRODUCTIONStructural solutions based on precast concrete elements are often more economically feasible than in situ cast solutions, because precast technology enables a reduction of construction time as well as labor cost. When using precast solutions, the on-site work mostly consists of assembling and connecting the precast elements into an integrated structural system. Hence, connection designs that are constructionfriendly play an important role for the overall cost reduction. It is, however, a challenge to design connections that are easy to construct and at the same time have structural performance (in terms of strength and ductility) which can be compared with that of in situ cast solutions. In cases with unusual structural geometry, it may be necessary to supplement the advantages of precast construction with in situ cast solutions in selected zones. An example of how current precast solutions have been pushed to the limit can be studied in References 1 and 2 that report on the design and construction of a landmark building in Copenhagen, Denmark. The leaning characteristic of the building imposed serious challenges to the design of the shear connections between the precast panels for insurance of overall structural stability.Currently, structural continuity between precast shear panels is established by use of narrow keyed connections containing overlapping U-bars and grouted with mortar (see Figure 1). However, with this conventional solution, which has been used since the 1960s, it is difficult to obtain full structural continuity because the ...