Date of this Version
Elkady, Mohamed. (2013). Precast Concrete Insulated Wall Panel Corbels without Thermal Bridging. MS Thesis. University of Nebraska.
The common practice in corbel design is to block out the insulation in order to provide a solid concrete area at the corbel location. This connection practice results in thermal bridging, which significantly reduces the energy performance of the panel. For example, the PCI Design Handbook indicates that the reduction in thermal resistance caused by a solid part with an area equal to 9% of the total panel surface area is as high as 42%. This paper presents a discussion of a new concept for corbel design of insulated wall panels with the thermal break totally preserved. Two different designs are presented. The structural capacity of the two connections was determined analytically and verified experimentally. The results of the research are encouraging. It is shown that a corbel is feasible to support the reaction of a 60 ft double tee on a 3-4-3 inch (total 10 in. thick) insulated panel. The required capacity of 42,000 pounds is shown to be exceeded by a significant margin. The reinforcement is relatively light and the precast production is relatively simple. Example design calculations and reinforcement details as well as the experimental results of seven full scale specimens will be covered.
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