Investigation of the deformation capacity of precast shear wall structures by full-scale tests

The load-carrying capacity of precast shear-wall structures is often determined by use of strut-and-tie models or similar plastic lower bound models. One of the main assumptions of the plastic approach is that the structure behaves in a ductile manner during failure, where redistribution of internal sectional forces is possible. For concrete frames and beams designed to develop plastic hinges, numerous fullscale tests exist that support the assumption of a ductile behaviour. Contrary to a framed structure, the collapse of a precast shear-wall structure is more complicated and may involve shear failure in the joints as well as concrete crushing and yielding of the reinforcement in the precast elements. This interaction during collapse has a significant impact on the ultimate load and the deformation capacity of the entire structure. To improve the state-of-the-art knowledge on the behaviour of precast shear-wall structures and to investigate the applicability of plastic design methods to such structures, a series of full-scale tests has recently been conducted at the Technical University of Denmark. The tested structures were two-storey high (5.44 metres) and consisted of precast wall and deck elements. The elements were connected by vertical keyed shear joints and horizontal smooth casting joints. This paper presents the experimental setup as well as some characteristic results recorded during a test. This includes loaddisplacement curves and DIC records of crack propagations. Full-scale tests of such precast shear walls systems have, to the best knowledge of the authors, not been published before.