Numerical Study on Mechanical Behaviors of New Type of Steel Shear-Connection Horizontal Joint in Prefabricated Shear Wall Structure

The shear connection joint is an important component of the prefabricated shear wall structure system, which plays a dual role in ensuring reasonable force transmission and structural integrity. A new type of steel shear-connection horizontal joint was proposed in this study. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed new joint, the established numerical model and its constitutive relationship were first verified based on the existing experimental results. Then, the influence effect on the mechanical behaviors of this new type of joint was further investigated with 20 computational cases. The corresponding influencing laws were established, and optimal parameter ranges were suggested. Finally, a simplified constitutive model-namely, a bilinear constitutive model based on the M-theta relationship-of the new steel shear-connection joint is further advanced and deduced. The results show that the proposed new joint can provide stable shear capacity and superior energy dissipation capacity. The interlocking slot in the new steel shear-connection joint is suggested to be designed with a slot length of 20 similar to 30 mm, a slot number of two or three, and a slot thickness of 20 similar to 30 mm so as to guarantee superior mechanical behaviors. The advanced bilinear constitutive model can effectively capture the mechanical characteristics of the new joints, in which the maximum error is only 7.67% between theory and simulation.