In-plane shear behavior of insulated precast concrete sandwich panels reinforced with corrugated GFRP shear connectors

Precast concrete sandwich panels often are used for the exterior cladding of residential and commercial buildings due to their thermal efficiency. Precast concrete sandwich panel systems consist of two precast reinforced concrete walls that are separated by a layer of insulation and joined by connectors that penetrate the insulation layer and are anchored to two precast concrete wythes. This paper presents push-out test results of concrete sandwich panels with and without corrugated shear connectors to investigate in-plane shear performance. The variables in this study are two types of insulation materials and the width, pitch, and embedment length of shear connectors. The test results indicate that the type of insulation material that is used in the system considerably affects the bond strength between the concrete walls and the insulation layer. A design equation adopted in ICC-ES is revised to determine the shear design capacity of precast concrete sandwich panels with various configurations of shear connectors.