A Study of Pipe Splice Sleeves for Use in Precast Beam-Column Connections

One of the primary objectives of this study was to examine the behavior of a grout-filled pipe sleeve developed to splice longitudinal reinforcement in seismic-resistant precast concrete columns. The secondary objective was to identify problems in the implementation of the prototype splice design and develop improved details of splice sleeves. In order to evaluate the seismic performance of grout-filled sleeves, two precast column specimens, which were connected to a rigid concrete base element by two different types of splice sleeves, were constructed and tested. The behavior of the precast column specimens were compared with the response of a comparable cast-in-place concrete specimen. In particular, comparisons of connection strength, stiffness, ductility, energy absorption, and failure mode are made.

Although response of the well-behaved precast connection and monolithic connection was not identical, test results indicate that the precast connection should provide sufficient strength and toughness when capacity-design techniques are used to proportion members and connections in the vicinity of beam-column connections. The problems with the prototype splice sleeve were identified and considered in the redesign of a splice sleeve. The precast specimen with improved splice sleeves could successfully provide results comparable with the monolithic specimen. Also, the test program found that performance of splice sleeves is heavily influenced by the quality of grout material and grout placement in the splice sleeve. Consequently, under careful control over assembly and grouting procedure, the splice sleeve type tested in this research could offer satisfying performance for precast concrete structures in seismic regions.