• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.75 no.3
• /
• pp.389-399
• /
• 2020

An infill wall made of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCC) was utilized in this study to strengthen the reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures that had not been designed for seismic loads. The seismic performance of the RC frame structures strengthened by the HPFRCC infill walls was investigated through the experimental tests, and the test results showed that they have improved strength and deformation capabilities compared to that strengthened by the RC infill wall. A simple numerical modeling method, called the modified longitudinal and diagonal line element model (LDLEM), was introduced to consider the seismic strengthening effect of the infill walls, in which a section aggregator approach was also utilized to reflect the effect of shear in the column members of the RC frames. The proposed model showed accurate estimations on the strength, stiffness, and failure modes of the test specimens strengthened by the infill walls with and without fibers.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2021

Most commercial buildings among existing RC buildings in Korea have a multi-story wall-frame structure where RC shear wall is commonly used as its core at stairways or elevators. The members of the existing middle and low-rise wall-frame buildings are likely arranged in ordinary details considering building occupancy, and the importance and difficulty of member design. This is because there are few limitations, considerations, and financial burdens on the code for designing members with ordinary details. Compared with the intermediate or unique details, the ductility and overstrength are insufficient. Furthermore, the behavior of the member can be shear-dominated. Since shear failure in vertical members can cause a collapse of the entire structure, nonlinear characteristics such as shear strength and stiffness deterioration should be adequately reflected in the analysis model. With this background, an 8-story RC wall-frame building was designed as a building frame system with ordinary shear walls, and the effect of reflecting the shear failure mode of columns and walls on the collapse mechanism was investigated. As a result, the shear failure mode effect on the collapse mechanism was evident in walls, not columns. Consequently, it is recommended that the shear behavior characteristics of walls are explicitly considered in the analysis of wall-frame buildings with ordinary details.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.88 no.5
• /
• pp.419-437
• /
• 2023

The use of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls (SW) as an efficient lateral load-carrying system has gained recent attention. However, creating openings in RC shear walls is unavoidable due to architectural requirements. This reduces the walls' strength and stiffness, resulting in the development of wall piers. In this study, the cyclic behavior of RC shear walls with openings, reinforced with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets in various patterns, was numerically investigated. Finite element analysis (FEA) using ABAQUS software was employed. Additionally, the retrofitting of sub-standard buildings (5, 10, and 15-story structures) designed based on the old and new versions of the Iranian Code of Practice for Seismic-Resistant Structures was evaluated. Nonlinear static analyses, specifically pushover analyses, were conducted on the structures. The best pattern of CFRP wrapping was determined and utilized for retrofitting the sub-standard structures. Various structural parameters, such as load-carrying capacity, ductility, stress contours, and tension damage contours, were compared to assess the efficiency of the retrofit solution. The results indicated that the load-carrying capacity of the sub-standard structures was lower than that of standard ones by 57%, 69%, and 67% for 5, 10, and 15-story buildings, respectively. However, the retrofit solution utilizing CFRP showed promising results, enhancing the capacity by 10-25%. The retrofitted structures demonstrated increased yield strength, ultimate strength, and ductility through CFRP wrapping and effectively prevented wall slipping.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.449-472
• /
• 2016

This paper studies the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) walls with encased cold-formed and thin-walled (CFTW) steel truss, which can be used as an alternative to the conventional RC walls or steel reinforced concrete (SRC) composite walls for high-rise buildings in high seismic regions. Seven one-fourth scaled RC wall specimens with encased CFTW steel truss were designed, manufactured and tested to failure under reversed cyclic lateral load and constant axial load. The test parameters were the axial load ratio, configuration and volumetric steel ratio of encased web brace. The behaviors of the test specimens, including damage formation, failure mode, hysteretic curves, stiffness degradation, ductility and energy dissipation, were examined. Test results indicate that the encased web braces can effectively improve the ductility and energy dissipation capacity of RC walls. The steel angles are more suitable to be used as the web brace than the latticed batten plates in enhancing the ductility and energy dissipation. Higher axial load ratio is beneficial to lateral load capacity, but can result in reduced ductility and energy dissipation capacity. A volumetric ratio about 0.25% of encased web brace is believed cost-effective in ensuring satisfactory seismic performance of RC walls. The axial load ratio should not exceed the maximum level, about 0.20 for the nominal value or about 0.50 for the design value. Numerical analyses were performed to predict the backbone curves of the specimens and calculation formula from the Chinese Code for Design of Composite Structures was used to predict the maximum lateral load capacity. The comparison shows good agreement between the test and predicted results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.365-380
• /
• 2002

Following a series of experiments on isolated low-rise RC shear walls with openings, a theoretical study on the backbone curve of a perforated shear wall shows that there are some important observations from experimental results that make clear a semi-empirical formula of the backbone curve of a perforated wall. Critical shear zones can be depicted from the configuration of shear walls with openings. Different factors, including the size and location of shear wall openings, the wall's height/width ratio, horizontal and vertical steel bar ratios, and location and amount of diagonal steel bars are involved in the derivation of the backbone curve. Bending and shear effects are also considered in the paper. In addition, a comparison of load and displacement for solid and perforated shear walls is discussed. Generally, the comparison between experimental curves and computed backbone curves is favorable.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.76 no.1
• /
• pp.57-65
• /
• 2020

It is very important to allocate valuable resources efficiently when reconstructing buildings after earthquake damage. This paper proposes the use of a simple seismic retrofitting system to make buildings more resilient than the stiffer systems such as the shear walls implemented in Chile after the earthquake in 2010. The proposal is based on the use of steel chevron-type braces in RC buildings as a dual system to improve the seismic performance of multistory buildings. A case study was carried out to compare the proposal with the shear wall solution for the typical seismic Chilean RC building from the structural and economic perspectives. The results show that it is more resilient than other stiffer seismic solutions, such as shear walls, reduces the demand, minimizes seismic damage, gives reliable earthquake protection and facilitates future upgrades and repairs while achieving the level of immediate occupancy without the costs of the shear walls system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.71 no.5
• /
• pp.563-576
• /
• 2019

According to The Concrete Centre, in the UK shear walls have become an inseparable part of almost every reinforced concrete frame building. Recently, the construction industry has questioned the need for shear walls in low to mid-rise RC frame buildings. This study tried to address the issue in two stages: The first stage, the feasibility of removing shear walls in an existing design for a residential building where ETABS and CONCEPT software were used to investigate the structural performance and cost-effectiveness respectively. The second stage, the same structure was examined in various locations in the UK to investigate regional effects. This study demonstrated that the building without shear wall could provide adequate serviceability and strength within the safe range defined by Eurocodes. As a result, construction time, overall cost and required concrete volume are reduced which in turn enhance the sustainability of concrete construction.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.215-238
• /
• 2005

This work is based on a nonlinear finite-element model with proven capacity for yielding realistic predictions of the response of reinforced-concrete structures under static monotonically-increasing loading. In it, the material description relies essentially on the two key properties of triaxiality and brittleness and, thus, is simpler than those of most other material models in use. In this article, the finite-element program is successfully used in investigating the behaviour of a series of RC walls under static cyclic loading. This type of loading offers a more strenuous test of the validity of the proposed program since cracks continuously form and close during each load cycle. Such a test is considered to be essential before attempting to use the program for the analysis of concrete structures under seismic excitation in order to ensure that the solution procedure adopted is numerically stable and can accurately predict the behaviour of RC structures under such earthquake-loading conditions. This is achieved through a comparative study between the numerical predictions obtained presently from the program and available experimental data.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2012

In this paper, non-linear analysis was performed for Reinforced Concrete (RC) walls using different macroscopic models subjected to cyclic loading, and the analytical results were compared with previous experimental studies of RC walls. ASCE41-06 (American Society of Civil Engineers) specifies that the hysteresis behaviors of RC walls are different due to the aspect ratio of the walls. For a comparison between analytical and experimental results, a slender wall with an aspect ratio exceeding 3.0 and a squat wall with an aspect ratio of 1.0 were selected among previous research works. For the non-linear analysis, each test specimen was modeled using two different macroscopic methods: the first representing the flexural behavior of the RC wall, and the second considering the diagonal shear in the web of the wall. Through nonlinear analysis of the considered RC walls, the analytical difference of a slender wall was negligible due to the different macroscopic modeling methods. However, the squat wall was significantly affected by the considered components of the modeling method. For an accurate performance evaluation of the RC building with squat walls, it would be reasonable to use a macroscopic model considering diagonal shear.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2001.11a
• /
• pp.459-464
• /
• 2001

A great level of strength and deformability on compressive zone of RC wall is essentially required when subjected to high axial and in-plane lateral loading due to earthquakes. One of the best ways to handle this situation is to provide the confinement effectiveness to the compressive zone by reinforcing steel. For this a series of design charts were constructed to evaluate the confinement effectiveness for a given steel configuration in accordance with a well-known model and part of them are presented in this paper. Using the chart, designers can choose a desirable steel arrangement in flexural compressive zone of RC walls for a prescribed confinement factor.