Experimental study and associated mechanism analysis of horizontal bolted connections involved in a precast concrete shear wall system

This paper is concerned about the lateral load response and associated working mechanism of a precast reinforced concrete shear wall involving horizontal connections. An assembling method is proposed using dry connection through a horizontal steel connector (H‐connector) and high strength bolts. To investigate the effectiveness of such an assembling method, two identical wall‐connector assembly specimens have been constructed and tested under monotonic loading and cyclic loading, respectively, while subjected to a constant vertical compression. The test results showed that the performance of the shear wall assembly was generally satisfactory in terms of ensuring the full development of the shear wall strength and ductility. To assist in the interpretation of the experimental results and enable further study on the design approach, a detailed mechanism analysis has been subsequently conducted. The stress in H‐connector flange and shear force transferred through each high strength bolt has been deduced on the basis of mechanism analysis. The further sliding analysis within the bolted connections agrees well with the experimental results and therefore confirms the derived formulae for H‐connector and high strength bolt.