Theoretical and experimental study on precast reinforced concrete wall panels subjected to shear force

• The use of PRCWP for buildings placed in seismic areas can provide strength and ductility of structures.
• The cut-out interventions in PRCWP change the seismic behaviour and performance of buildings.
• The ductility of PRCWP with cut out openings have to be analysed function of opening dimensions.

The paper presents the results of the first part of an experimental program developed to study the seismic performance of precast reinforced concrete wall panels with and without openings. The specimen characteristics and reinforcement configuration were taken from a typical Romanian project used widely since 1981 and scaled 1:1.2 due to the constraints imposed by the laboratory facilities. This type of precast wall panels was used mostly for residential buildings with multiple flats built from 1981 to 1989. The performance and failure mode of all of the panels tested revealed a shear type of failure that is influenced by the opening type, and critical areas and lack of reinforcement were observed in certain regions. A numerical analysis was performed to create a model that could predict the behaviour of the precast reinforced concrete shear walls of different parameters. The performed experimental tests stopped when the panels lost 20% of their load bearing capacity to be further repaired, strengthened post-damage and subsequently tested again. The precast reinforced concrete walls investigated in this study meet the requirements of Eurocode 8 for walls designed to DCM (medium ductility) as large, lightly reinforced walls.