Lateral Load Testing of a Precast Concrete Shear Wall with Short-Grouted Ductile Rebar Connections

This thesis describes the large-scale lateral load testing of a precast concrete shear wall specimen with short-grouted corrugated steel pipe connections for energy-dissipating (ED) steel reinforcing bars providing lateral strength and stiffness across the horizontal joint with the foundation. The tested components aim for non-proprietary, low-cost connections compared to current seismic precast concrete connection methods. Previous laboratory tests demonstrated high performance of single ED bar connections using the proposed concept under uniaxial cyclic loading. This thesis builds on these previous results by testing groups of ED bar connections under cyclic lateral loading. The construction of a lateral load reaction system for the testing of the precast wall is described. The results show that improvements to the design and detailing of the tie reinforcement around the ED bar connections are needed to achieve the desired ductile performance of the system.