Experimental and numerical investigations of textile-reinforced concrete thin-wall panel bolted connections

Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) is a novel building material that merges fine-grained concrete with textile fibers to produce a composite material exhibiting enhanced mechanical characteristics. This study examined the behavior of thin-walled TRC structures connected by bolts and found that the open box panel member is a promising solution for wall, floor, and roof applications. The investigation focused on three types of connections: moment joints, shear joints, and half-box connections. The study also revealed that bolt-to-edge distance significantly affects the bearing capacity of TRC structures. The location and type of cracks in moment-type joints depend on the number of bolts used during fabrication. All four specimens experienced damage at the bolted side in the half-box connection test, with significant cracks around the steel bolts. The specimens failed at about 74% and 70.6% of the original panel's bearing capacity. It could be concluded that the bolted connection was the weakest link in the structure. Improving the bolt structure or increasing the thickness of the ribs is necessary to maximize the panel's bearing capacity. Finite element models of the full panels and half-box connections on the ATENA software package were developed and verified with the experimental results. The proposed models accurately captured the load-carrying capacities, load-deflection relationships, and failure modes for both panels and connections.