Wall to Wall Horizontal Connection for Precast Concrete Structures

Abstract

Precast concrete wall is one of the prefabricated components of high demands in the construction industry especially in residential buildings as it combines the benefit of rapid speed of construction, good quality control and minimum labour intensity at the construction site. Precast wall is produced in forms of wall panels and connected in the construction site to form an integrated structural element called precast concrete wall. However, the connection of wall panels is a key factor as it provides the structure integrity and robustness of the overall structural system. Therefore, this paper aims to describe and summarize types of precast wall-to-wall horizontal connection in terms structural behaviours such as embedded length, bonding stress, seismic behaviours and modes of failure. A total number of ten (10) out of eighteen (18) papers will be reviewed and discussed. The findings show that loop connection is suitable for seismically stabile zones as it is not capable to withstand lateral load action effectively whereas wire rope connection has insufficient ductility as the load -carrying capacity is governed by yielding of the lock bar and crushing of the joint mortar. Furthermore, U-shaped steel channel connection, the connection was developed for seismic zones. Providing U-shaped rubber in between the U-shape steel channel has made the connection more flexible with energy dissipater system. Keywords: Precast concrete wall-to-wall connection; structural behaviours of precast wall-to-wall horizontal connections; mode of failure of precast wall-to-wall horizontal connections.