Bolted Splice Connections for Composite Plate Shear Walls/Concrete-Filled: Monotonic Behavior and Numerical Modeling

Concrete-filled composite plate shear walls (C-PSW/CF) effectively combine steel and concrete materials producing an efficient composite structural system also referred to as SpeedCore. Traditionally, complete joint penetration (CJP) welds have been used to connect C-PSW/CF modules. Engineers prefer bolted wall-to-wall splice connections for wind-governed, nonseismic applications owing to their ease of assembly and reduced construction schedule as compared to CJP welded connections. This study introduces new bolted splices for C-PSW/CF walls. Large-scale specimens using these bolted splices were designed, fabricated, and tested to failure. The specimens were subjected to constant axial load and monotonically increasing lateral loading up to failure. The specimens failed due to shear failure of fasteners, which occurred in the flexure induced axial tension region of the bolted splice. Fundamental behavior including overall lateral load-displacement and moment-rotation response of the splice were measured. The moment-rotation (M−θ) response of the splice connection was linear elastic until flexural cracking of the concrete infill occurred in the composite section at Mcr, followed by an almost parabolic relationship up to its ultimate moment capacity (Mu). Detailed numerical models were developed and benchmarked using experimental result to gain additional insight into the behavior of bolted splices. Limited numerical investigations were performed to expand the database and to assess the role of double shear and fastener configurations on the behavior of the bolted splice connections.