Behavior of Grouted Sleeve Splice for Steel Profile under Tensile Loadings

Two groups of grouted sleeve splices for steel profile were tested to investigate their tensile behavior, serving as pilot studies for novel prefabricated reinforced concrete shear wall structures. In the first group, four splice specimens with different embedded lengths of steel profile were monotonic tensile loaded to determine an appropriate anchorage length. In the second group, three splice specimens with a conservative anchorage length of steel profile were tested under repeated tensile loading, cyclic loading at high stress, and cyclic loading at large strain, respectively. Parametric studies were then conducted on sleeve thickness, grout strength, offset of steel profile, and misalignment of steel profile using finite element method (FEM)-based models. The results show that the splices in the second group behaved well with minor residential deformation and almost no pinching effect. The optimized sleeve thickness could be appropriately determined using FEM models. The compressive strengths of the grout exceeding a threshold value and the offset of steel profile had minor influence on splice behavior, while the misalignment of steel profile had a pronounced effect.