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Effect of Z-shaped Steel Plate Connectors on Out-of-Plane Flexural Behaviour of Precast Insulated Concrete Panels
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- Author / Creator
- Goudarzi, Nabi
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Precast Insulated Concrete Panels (PICP) consist of an insulation layer sandwiched between two concrete layers. The concrete layers of PICP are attached to each other by interlayer mechanical connectors. These panels are widely used in North America as cladding system to provide thermal insulation for the buildings and protect the building envelope against moisture ingress. These panels are subject to out-of-plane wind and seismic loading. The out-of-plane shear strength and stiffness of PICP depend on the shear strength and stiffness of the interlayer mechanical connectors. Interlayer mechanical connectors with sufficient shear stiffness mobilize flexural composite behaviour between the concrete layers. The connectors that mobilize large degree of composite action are called shear connectors. As the out-of-plane flexural composite action of PICP is increased their out-of-plane deflection under out-of-plane service loading is decreased and their out-of-plane strength is improved. Most common shear connectors include truss and grid type connectors made of steel or composite material. While these connectors have proved to induce large degree of composite action, they are susceptible to buckling. Thus the full strength of their material is not efficiently mobilized. Z-shaped Steel Plate Connectors (ZSPC) have recently been utilized in PICP and they reach their plastic shear strength before buckling. Thus, ZSPC is structurally more efficient than the existing truss and grid connectors in mobilizing composite action in PICP. In this research experimental and analytical studies are conducted on ZSPC to examine their shear behaviour, and to determine the effect of their width and thickness on their shear behaviour. An analytical method is proposed and validated to estimate the shear strength and stiffness of ZSPC, which can be used for optimal design of these connectors for PICP. In this research, out-of-plane flexural tests are conducted to determine the effect of ZSPC on the out-of-plane strength and stiffness of non-loadbearing PICP with and without end-beams. These tests showed that PICP with ZSPC can achieve out-of-plane strength and stiffness of a fully-composite panel. Moreover, the tested PICP with end-beams achieved the out-of-plane strength and stiffness of a fully-composite panel even with the smallest ZSPC used in these tests. A Multistep Linear Elastic (MLE) analysis method is proposed to estimate the out-of-plane flexural behaviour of PICP with different interlayer mechanical connectors with and without end-beams. This method is verified by the experimental results of the tested PICP in this research and previous studies. It is shown that the MLE analysis method can estimate the out-of-plane flexural behaviour of PICP with different interlayer connectors with and without end-beams. Based on the MLE method, an analytical approach is developed to estimate the out-of-plane deflection, cracking and ultimate out-of-plane flexural strengths of simply supported PICP with and without end-beams. The analytical results showed that end-beams absorb a large portion of the interlayer shear forces, thereby reducing the shear demand on the interlayer mechanical connectors. Moreover, end-beams improve the interlayer shear stiffness of PICP and induce at least 80% degree of composite action regardless of the shear stiffness of the interlayer mechanical connectors.
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2016
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.