Research on out‐of‐plane seismic behavior of precast shear walls connected by double‐pipe rebar connectors

Abstract This paper investigates the out‐of‐plane seismic behavior of precast shear walls connected by double‐pipe rebar connectors (D‐P connectors) through low‐cycle reciprocating loading tests, with cast‐in‐place shear walls taken as the reference. Based on the experimental results, a finite element model is further established, and parametric analyses are conducted to evaluate the effects of the outer diameter of the connector installation holes and the preload of the straight‐thread sleeves on the out‐of‐plane mechanical performance of the walls. The test results show that both the precast and cast‐in‐place shear walls exhibit typical flexural failure modes under out‐of‐plane loading. The D‐P connection detail mainly affects the initial crack development of the precast wall. The difference in peak load between the two wall types is within 6%, and their stiffness degradation, energy dissipation capacity, and ductility are also comparable. These results indicate that precast shear walls connected by D‐P connectors possess out‐of‐plane seismic behavior comparable to that of cast‐in‐place walls, confirming the effectiveness of the D‐P connectors in force transfer. In addition, the out‐of‐plane flexural bearing capacity of the precast wall is calculated based on the out‐of‐plane flexural theory of cast‐in‐place shear walls. The finite element results are in good agreement with the experimental results. Increasing the outer diameter of the connector installation holes improves construction convenience without reducing the bearing capacity of the precast shear walls, whereas increasing the preload of the straight‐thread sleeves significantly enhances the initial stiffness. These findings provide a basis for further studies on the out‐of‐plane mechanical behavior of this connection system and support its future application in prefabricated concrete structures.