The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Hysteretic behavior of reinforced concrete structural walls

Vallenas, Jose M.; Bertero, Vitelmo V.; Popov, Egor P.

UCB/EERC-79/20, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1979-08, 266 pages (530/V28/1979)

Experimental and analytical responses are studied for reinforced concrete structural walls subjected to high shear earthquake loading conditions. Results are presented of eight earthquake simulation tests on 1/3-scale structural R/C wall subassemblage model specimens. The prototypes were ten- and seven-story buildings designed to current code provisions. Details of the test setup, the models tested, and test procedure are summarized. The main experimental results are evaluated in terms of the hysteretic characteristics (strength, deformation, and energy dissipation capacity), the modes of failure, ease of construction, and effectiveness of repair. The parameters studied were type of confinement in the boundary elements (hoop vs. spiral); wall cross section (rectangular vs. framed where the boundary elements protrude from the surface of the wall); moment-to-shear ratios; monotonic and cyclic load programs; and repair procedures. Excellent behavior was obtained in well-designed R/C structural walls. Slender walls with rectangular cross sections were found to have problems with out-of-plane stability. The analytical work included modeling of the wall behavior under monotonic loading and high shear conditions. The models developed included a breakdown of the overall deformation into three components, flexural, shear, and fixed-end deformations. The possibility of extending these models to the case of cyclic loading is investigated. Present code design methods for walls are assessed, the seismic-resistant design implications of the results are discussed, and areas of further study are recommended.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-79-20.pdf (31 MB)