Experimental Investigation of the Anchorage Capacity of Looped Wire Ropes placed in Wall Elements for T-and L-connections

Within the last decade, a construction-friendly design principle for connections between wall elements has been used more and more. It is designed with flexible wire ropes that replace the traditionally used U-bars. The anchorage of wire ropes in wall element has not been solved. Especially, the anchorage of wire ropes in T-and L-connections can be very complex. Here, the wire ropes stick out of the side of the wall element and are bent in the anchorage zone. This paper presents an extensive experimental programme of 40 specimens on the anchorage capacity of wire ropes anchored in the side of a wall element. The study shows that some of the specially designed reinforcement increased the anchorage capacity, while the more traditional reinforcement did not influence the capacity. Furthermore, the paper shows that the failure mechanisms are often found as a concrete cone failure.