# Experimental and Analytical Investigation of Self-Centering Precast Composite Walls with Sloped Plane Friction Dampers

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new self-centering wall system with friction dampers to reduce earthquake damage and repair costs.

## Contribution

The novel design integrates sloped plane friction dampers and precast composite walls to enhance seismic performance.

## Key findings

- Self-centering walls showed minimal damage and small residual drift during testing.
- Greater initial PT force improved bearing capacity and self-centering ability.
- Higher prestressing clamping force increased energy dissipation.

## Abstract

To reduce the damage to reinforced concrete shear walls in earthquakes and repair costs, a self-centering wall with sloped plane friction dampers (SPFDs) is proposed. In addition to the SPFDs, the proposed wall includes a precast composite wall, steel wall toes, and post-tensioned (PT) tendons. The steel wall toes embedded in the base of the precast wall were used to improve its strength, and the SPFDs installed in the steel toes were used to increase its energy dissipation capacity. To investigate the effect of the initial PT force and prestressing clamping force of the friction bolt on the seismic performance of the wall, quasistatic cyclic loading tests were carried out on three precast wall specimens. The damage to the self-centering walls was slight, the residual drift was small, and the energy dissipation met the specification requirements. The wall with the greater initial PT force showed higher self-centering and bearing capacity, and the wall with higher prestressing clamping forces showed greater energy dissipation capacity. Additionally, a calculation method for the bearing capacity of the precast wall, which was verified by comparison with the test results, is suggested.