3rd Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering 3CroCEE

Recent global events such as earthquakes, the COVID-19 pandemic, wars, floods and similar crises, which have also affected Croatia, have highlighted the urgent need for rapidly deployable emergency shelters, hospitals and both temporary and permanent housing solutions. Simultaneously, cities around the world are grappling with accelerated population growth, creating a huge need for residential areas.
Prefabricated construction is an efficient solution to these challenges. It enables the faster construction of a greater number of industrial and residential units, helping to reduce demand while lowering the cost per square meter of housing or commercial space. In addition, prefabricated construction is considered sustainable as it minimizes the amount of waste and optimizes the use of materials (1) - a key advantage in today’s construction industry.
Prefabricated wall panels, a fundamental component of such structures, are increasingly being used worldwide. However, these panels must meet stringent mechanical resistance and stability requirements to withstand all foreseeable impacts. It could be said that prefabricated wall panel systems are particularly susceptible to seismic (dynamic) actions. Numerous scientific studies have addressed this issue and undoubtedly established that the seismic resistance of these systems, and therefore of the entire prefabricated construction, is largely dependent on the quality of the joints between the panels.
Prefabricated wall panel joints can be categorized as either wet or dry, depending on the method of the connection (2). Wet joints achieve connection through reinforcement and on-site concreting, while dry joints are made by mechanical elements such as steel plates with bolts or welded.
The increasing number of prefabricated buildings, coupled with the increasing frequency of earthquakes worldwide, has amplified the need for in-depth research on the seismic resistance of prefabricated reinforced concrete structures, where the greatest emphasis is placed precisely on prefabricated wall panels, i.e. on their mutual connections. For this reason, this paper aims to compile and analyze the conclusions and observations of previous research conducted by scientists worldwide on the topic of prefabricated reinforced concrete wall panels and their connections under the influence of earthquakes.

Refereces:
(1) Martins, R., Carmo, R. do, Costa, H., Júlio, E., „A review on precast structural concrete walls and connections” Advances in Structural Engineering 2023; 26(14):2600-2620. doi.org/10.1177/13694332231191073
(2) Singhal, S., Chourasia, A., Chellappa, S., Parashar, J., „Precast reinforced concrete shear walls: State of the art review” doi.org/10.1002/suco.201800129