Experimental Study on the Out-of-Plane Seismic Performance of Shear Walls with Bolted Connections in Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear power plant (NPP) shear walls are typically ultra-thick and heavily reinforced, posing significant challenges for conventional cast-in-place (CIP) construction. To overcome these issues, this study proposes a precast concrete shear wall (PCSW) system with bolted connections. Owing to orthogonal wall layouts dictated by functional requirements, these structures are subjected to significant out-of-plane seismic demands, making their performance under such loading a critical design concern. Therefore, this paper investigates the out-of-plane seismic performance of scaled (1:2) models of PCSWs (300 mm thick) under an axial pressure ratio of 0.2 and without axial pressure through low-cycle repeated load tests, and compares them with corresponding CIP shear walls. All specimens exhibited flexural failure, while damage in PCSWs was relatively minor and concentrated within the grouting layer. Compared with CIP specimens, the precast specimens showed more pinching and smaller residual deformation, with cumulative energy dissipation reaching 70%–80% of CIP specimens. The flexural load-bearing capacity of the precast specimens was close to that of the CIP specimens, with differences within 5%. The ductility of the precast specimens under axial pressure ratios of 0 and 0.2 was 4.54 and 2.68, respectively, differing from the CIP specimens by 16% and −10%. The stiffness degradation trends of both systems were essentially consistent. Overall, the results demonstrate that the out-of-plane seismic performance of PCSWs with bolted connections is broadly equivalent to that of CIP counterparts, confirming their feasibility for application in NPPs.