Seismic performance of precast concrete shear walls with steel box connections

Abstract

This study proposes a dry vertical connection system, referred to as the Steel Box Connection, for precast concrete shear walls. The proposed system is designed to improve constructability by eliminating cast-in-place concrete while maintaining structural integrity through mechanical fastening of longitudinal reinforcement within a steel box. To evaluate its structural performance, cyclic lateral loading tests were conducted on four shear wall specimens under constant axial load, including one monolithic specimen and three precast specimens with different connection configurations and interface geometries between the upper and lower wall segments. The specimens with the block-type interface using different connection mechanisms exhibited ultimate strengths approximately 3–4% higher than that of the monolithic specimen, whereas the specimen with the flat-type interface showed about 90% of the monolithic strength. The precast specimens demonstrated higher initial stiffness and more distributed deformation along the wall height, while the monolithic specimen showed concentrated deformation at the wall base. The interface geometry and connection mechanism also influenced the hysteretic behavior and energy dissipation characteristics. Overall, within the tested configuration, the proposed system exhibited stable cyclic behavior and structural performance comparable to that of the monolithic reference specimen, suggesting its potential as a dry vertical connection for precast shear wall systems.