A precast wall‐type building is constructed by stacking wall panels and slabs. This paper presents a study of the in‐plane shear behavior of vertical grouted joints between precast panels. Thirteen jointed wall panel specimens were tested under direct shear. Based on the results, analytical expressions were developed to predict the shear load versus slip behavior. These can be used in computational models of precast wall type buildings, through modeling of shear springs between the panels. To demonstrate the application, a numerical analysis of an isolated jointed shear wall was performed. The wall was modeled for three cases, (a) monolithic wall, (b) two walls with a gap and (c) two walls with shear links. Based on non‐linear pushover analysis, it was demonstrated that the modeling of jointed walls using shear links reduces the conservatism inherent in a model neglecting the shear transfer across the joint.

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