Design of a Shear Connector for a New Self-Centering Wall System

Abstract eng:
Self-centering precast concrete walls have been found to provide excellent seismic resistance. Such systems, however, typically exhibit low energy dissipation, requiring supplementary dissipating components to improve their seismic performance. An economical option is to use mild steel shear connectors as energy dissipating elements. The design of steel shear connectors for a new precast wall system was undertaken using finite element analyses. Of the different types studies, an oval shaped connector (or O-Connector) was found to provide the most suitable response, with stable force-displacement behavior and large displacement capacity. An experimental test program was conducted to verify the performance of two different O-Connector designs, confirming the expected excellent response with sufficient energy dissipation. The experimental data demonstrated excellent correlation with the finite element model developed. The O-Connector has since been incorporated into a large scale PreWEC test specimen, behaving as expected and providing an excellent connector for the system.

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