Advanced Materials Research Online: 2013-01-25

ISSN: 1662-8985, Vol. 658, pp 38-41

doi:10.4028/[Link]/AMR.658.38
© 2013 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland

Shear Reinforcing Influence of GFRP ShearConnectors in the Concrete

Sandwich Wall Panel (CSWP) for Exterior Envelopes of Buildings
Tae-Sik Oh1, a, Seok-Joon Jang2,b and Hyun-Do Yun2,c
1
Kyeryong Construction Company, Daejeon,Republic of Korea
2
Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon,Republic of Korea
a
tsoh@[Link],bsuk-joon@[Link], cwiseroad@[Link] (corresponding author)

Keywords: Concrete Sandwich Wall Panel (CSWP), Shear Behavior, GFRP, Shear Connector.

Abstract. This paper summarizes the experimental results of concrete sandwich wall panels
(CSWP)specimens under pull-out loading conducted to investigate the effect of insulation type and
reinforcing area of shear connector made with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) on the shear
behavior of CSWP used as exterior cladding [Link] this study, two types of thermal
insulations;expanded polystyrene(EPS)and extruded polystyrene with special slots(XPSS) and
wave-shaped GFRP shear connectors with different reinforcing area; 6mm x 2mm and 12mm x 2mm
were used for CSWP [Link] results indicated that the types of insulations and reinforcing
area of GFRP shear connectors have a significant effect on the direct shear behavior between concrete
wall and insulation. As reinforcing area of GFRP shear connector increase, increase in shear strength
of CSWP with EPS insulation is less than CSWP specimens with XPSS insulation due to relatively
lower strength of EPS compared to XPSS strength.

Introduction
Countries all over the world have consumedenormous amount of fossil fuel energy due to economic
growth and industrial development. CO2 emission by using fossil fuel causes serious environmental
problems such as abnormal weather and air pollution. International Energy Agency (IEA) reported
that in 2010, the building sector constitutesalmost 30% of global CO2 emissions. CO2 emission inthe
building sector comprises about 23% of total CO2emissions ofKorea [1].Thormark [2] reported that
operational energyaccounts for about 85–95% of the total energy used in dwellingsduring a service
life of 50 [Link] external wall and roof are the interface between building interior and outdoor
environment, operational energy savings depends on the thermal efficiency of building
envelopecomponents such as external walls and roof.
Table 1. Summaries of CSWP specimens
Test Insulation Insulation Connector Connector Direction of casting
thickness section pitch concrete wythe
designation type (mm) (mm x mm) (mm)
EPS-0 EPS 100 - 200 Vertical
EPS-6 EPS 100 6x5 200 Vertical
EPS-12 EPS 100 12 x 5 200 Vertical
XPSS-0 XPSS 100 - 200 Vertical
XPSS-6 XPSS 100 6x5 200 Vertical
XPSS-12 XPSS 100 12 x 5 200 Vertical
XPSS-6DEBOND XPSS 100 6x5 200 Vertical
XPSS-12DEBOND XPSS 100 12 x 5 200 Vertical

Recently, social demands for energy savings have led to the development of green building
technology and energy efficiency certification such as leadership in energy and environment design
(LEED) and green building certification code (GBCC). With construction industry requirement for
building envelope systems to reduce space heating and space cooling, energy use andcosts, concrete
sandwich wall panel (CSWP) have recently been developed and become more widely used in the
building sector due to their economic advantages,superior thermal and structural efficiency.

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 Advanced Materials Research Vol. 658 39

(a) Configuration of CSWP specimen (b) Test setup

Fig. 1 Configuration and test setup of CSWP specimen
The CSWP used as exterior cladding of buildings aretypically constituted by two wythes of
reinforced concrete wallsseparated by an internal layer of thermal insulation such as expanded
polystyrene (ESP), extruded polystyrene (XPS) and rigid polyurethane foam. The two concrete layers
usually joined with shear connectors which can transfer the longitudinal interface shear between the
layers to ensure a fully-composite or a semi-composite behavior of the [Link] geometry and
material properties of shear connectors as well as a layer of insulation in the CSWP have a significant
effect on the thermal and structural performance of CSWP.
This paper describes the shear behavior of CSWP with different types of thermal insulation; EPS
and XPSS treated with special slots on the surface of XPS to increase the bond strength between XPS
and concrete wythes [3]. GFRP shear connectors are proposed to improve the thermal performance of
existing steel or concrete connector and shear performance of CSWP with proposed connectors is
investigated.

Experimental Investigation
Description of Test Specimen. The experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of
thermal insulation and GFRP connector types on the direct shear behavior of [Link] shown in
Table 1, eight CSWP specimens were made and tested up to failure. The size of each push-out
specimen was 450mm x 600mm x 1,200mm. Push-out specimen consisted of three concrete wythes
and two insulation wythes. All specimens have 60mm concrete outer wythe, 130mm concrete inner
wythe , and 100mm insulations as shown in Fig. 1(a). In Table 1, the specimen designation represents
the type of insulation and the width of GFRP shear connector. For example, the first test designation
in the EPS-12 represents types of thermal insulation and the second one shows the width of GFRP
shear connector with 5mm thick. Specific compressive strength of concrete wythe is 30MPa. Tensile
strength of GFRP for shear connector is 400MPa.
Fabrication and Casting. All specimens were vertically constructed, as is in the construction filed of
residential buildings with bearing wall systems. Wood formwork first was fabricated and then welded
wire reinforcement (WWF) with spacers was placed in the inside of the forms to maintain the
concrete cover thickness. After GFRP shear connectors were fabricated with thermal insulation,
insulation foam was placed between both WWFs and then concrete was then poured from a ready mix
truck to form three concretewythes and compacted by vibration. All GFRP shear connectors were
anchored to concrete wythe and the anchor length was 30mm. The specimens were cured in the steam
for 24 hours. After removing formwork from specimens, specimens were stored to air until testing.
Test Setup and Procedure. Fig. 1(b) shows the setup used for testing the specimen. The CSWP
specimens were supported vertically at the bottom edge of the two concrete outer wythes by steel
blocks. The specimens were examined at quasi-static loading rates. A displacement rate of 5mm per
40 Materials and Manufacturing Research

minute was used for specimens. Vertical load was applied through a load cell and steel block in line
with 500kN oil jack to the top surface of inner concrete wythe to produce direct shear across
interfaces. The relative vertical displacements between the inner and outer concrete wythes were
monitored on the front and backward at the middle of the specimen as shown in Fig.1(b). Two dial
gauges were also placed one 200mm below the top and the other 200mm above the bottom of
specimen to measure the horizontal displacement between both outer concrete wythes.

Results and Discussion

A summary of the measured response of each CSWP specimen is presented in Table 2. Table 2
includes the maximum shear strength, corresponding relative vertical displacements at peak load, and
shear flow that represents the maximum shear stress between insulation and concrete wythe.

Table 2. Summaries of experimental results

Test Maximum load Relative displacement (mm) Shear flow
designation (kN) Front Backward Average (kN/m)
EPS-0 194.4 4.22 4.06 4.14 40.5
EPS-6 375.7 3.77 1.43 2.60 78.3
EPS-12 415.8 1.99 2.49 2.24 86.6
XPSS-0 242.3 2.94 2.72 2.38 50.5
XPSS-6 332.2 2.74 1.38 2.06 69.2
XPSS-12 445.2 2.91 2.23 2.57 92.8
XPSS-6DEBOND 222.1 4.25 4.53 4.39 46.3
XPSS-12DEBOND 299.2 4.43 0.72 2.57 62.3

Effect of Reinforcing Amount of GFRP Shear [Link] 2(a) and Table 2 show the
maximum shear flow of interface between concrete wythe and insulation in CSWP with EPS and
XPSS insulation in the variation with reinforcing amount of GFRP shear connectors. As shown in
Fig. 2(a), maximum shear flow in all specimens increases with reinforcing amount of GFRP shear
connectors. Fig. 2(b) indicates the shear flow and vertical displacement of CSWP specimen debonded
with XPSS insulation and concrete wythe. CSWP specimen (XPSS-6DEBOND) linked with 6mm
wide and 5mm thick wave-shaped GFRP connectors only between inner and outer concrete withes
shows about 35% less shear strength than CSWP specimen (XPSS-12DEBOND) coupled with 12mm
wide and 5mm thick GFRP connectors. However, shear behavior of XPSS-6DEBOND specimen

(a) Maximum shear flow (b) Shear behavior of debonded specimens

Fig. 2 Shear flow of CSWP specimens
 Advanced Materials Research Vol. 658 41

(a) XPSS-6DEBOND (b) XPSS-12DEBOND

Fig. 3 Failure modes of debonded CSWP Fig. 4 Direct shear behavior of CSWP

shows more stable than that of XPSS-12DEBOND. As shown in Fig. 3, the interface between
concrete wall and insulation of XPSS-6 and-12DEBOND specimens were failed with different failure
modes. In XPSS-6DEBOND specimen, fracture of GFRP shear connectors was occurred while
XPSS-12DEBOND failed to pull-out of GFRP shear connectors from concrete wythe. Based on these
test results, it is thought that anchor length of 30mm for GRFP connectors with cross-section of 12 x
6mm is not proper to develop the tensile strength of shear connector.
Effect of Types of [Link]. 4 shows the shear flow and relative vertical displacement of
CSWP specimens with different types of insulation; EPS and [Link] CSWP without GFRP shear
connectors, shear strength and stiffness of interface between concrete wall and XPSS insulation is
higher than those of CSWP with EPS. For CSWP specimens reinforced with GFRP connectors with
cross-section of 6 x 5mm, interface between concrete wall and ESP shows higher shear strength than
XPSS and concrete interface. From comparison between front and backward displacement of XPSS-6
CSWP specimen, it is thought that less shear strength of interface between XPSS and concrete is due
to the unblanced failure of both interfaces. In the comparison between ESP-12 and XPSS-12
specimens, shear behavior of XPSS-12 is superior to EPS-12. In the shear performance of interface
between concrete wythe and insulation, it can be concluded that XPSS is better than EPS.

Conclusion
Reinforcing amount of GFRP shear connectors and types of insulation in the CSWP systems have a
significant effect on the direct shear performance of interface between concrete wythe and insulation.
Based on test results, it is noted that maximum shear flow between concrete wall and proposed XPSS
insulation is 50.5kN/[Link] shear flows of interface between concrete wall and XPSS linked
with 6 x 5mm and 6 x 12mm GFRP shear connectors are 69.2kN/m and 92.8kN/m, respectively. In
the case of CSWP used EPS as a thermal insulation, maximum shear flow decreases about 20 – 30%
compared to CSWP utilized XPSS as a thermal insulation.
This research was financially supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) through
International Cooperation Research (NRF-2011-D00022) andChungnam National University (CNU).

References
[1] The Government of the Republic of Korea: Third National Communication of theRepublic of
Korea under the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (IPCC), (2011)
[2] C. Thormark: Building and Environment 41 (2006) 1019–1026
[3] T.S. Oh, S.J. Jang, K.M. Lee, and H.D. Yun: Advanced Material Research (2013)