Test and analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) precast shear wall assembled using steel shear key (SSK)

Reinforced concrete (RC) precast shear walls are extensively applied in practical engineering, owing to their fast construction speed. However, because of the transport conditions, RC precast shear walls have to be separated into small wall segments during the factory prefabrication procedure before being assembled on site. Typically, wet-type jointing methods are adopted to link the segments, which is time-consuming and results in unreliable post-pouring area strength. To overcome this problem, the novel scheme of the steel shear key (SSK) featuring steel shear panels and combined fillet and plug welding is proposed. Three RC precast shear wall specimens with different linking strength, termed as weakened SSK wall, standard SSK wall, and strengthened SSK wall, respectively, and an integrated shear wall specimen were designed. Quasi-static cyclic loading was applied to investigate the specimens' dynamic properties. The test results suggest the prefabricated wall segments equipped with SSKs showed reliable stiffness and bearing capacity and were improved in energy dissipation ability, compared with conventional shear walls. As the shear stiffness and number of equipped SSKs increased, the specimens exhibited higher strength, but their ductility and energy dissipation were slightly decreased. Most importantly, the standard SSK wall specimen could achieve satisfactory bearing capacity and deformability and is thus recommended for precast building structures. Finite element method (FEM) models were established to validate the test results, and parametric study analysis was conducted based on the coupling ratio of the SSK walls. Finally, an appropriate coupling ratio range is recommended for practical engineering applications.