Seismic performance of coupled precast concrete wall panels connected by novel vertical bolted joints

This paper proposed the coupled precast concrete wall panels connected by novel vertical bolted joint that were suitable for low- and mid-rise buildings. Three vertical bolted joint specimens were tested under shear cyclic loading to investigate the influence of different types of steel plates on the failure modes and mechanical performance of the joint specimens. Based on the experimental results, two steel plates with the highest bearing capacity and the best ductility were selected. According to the above two selected steel plates, four coupled wall panels were designed and tested under quasi-static cyclic loading to study the seismic performance. The finite element model of a coupled wall panel connected by novel vertical bolted joints was established by using OpenSees, and the simulation results showed good agreement with the experimental results. Then, a parametric study was conducted based on the finite element model to investigate the influence of the coupling ratio on the seismic performance of the coupled wall panels. Finally, an analytical study for calculating the initial stiffness of the coupled wall panels was conducted, and the calculation results agreed well with the experimental results.