Cyclic behaviour of rc shear wall embedded with different patterns of web reinforcement

Abstract

The importance of earthquake resistant design of structures has grown-up since earthquakes have become more common in the indian subcontinent. in earthquake resistance of reinforced concrete structures, shear walls play a vital role. in shear wall systems, the reinforcement configuration is the critical parameter in lateral load resisting mechanism. structural response during recent earthquakes indicates that the failure of shear walls is caused mainly by inadequate ductility and energy dissipation capacity due to improper detailing. past studies show that there is a lack of knowledge in the detailing of shear wall elements and in particular the web portion. hence, an attempt has been made in this study to investigate the impact of different reinforcement detailing patterns embedded in the web portion of shear walls. it was proposed to investigate the behaviour of shear walls provided with different reinforcement patterns in its web portion including, (i) conventional reinforcement pattern (swc), (ii) provision of x-shaped reinforcement patterns (swx series) and (iii) provision of inclined reinforcement patterns (swi series). a total of twelve shear wall specimens, with eleven embedded using proposed non-conventional web reinforcement patterns (swx and swi) and one with conventional web reinforcement were considered for the study. the shear wall specimens were cast to a one-fourth scale with an aspect ratio of 1.83. the specimens were tested under in-plane reverse cyclic loading along with a constant axial load. the ultimate load, hysteresis response, energy dissipation, displacement ductility and stiffness properties of the specimens were investigated. a finite element analysis of the shear wall was carried out using the finite element program ansys, and the analytical results showed a good correlation with the experimental results. the results showed that the shear wall embedded with inclined reinforcement provided in the pattern of diagonal orientation with 64and#61616; angle of inclination (swi-64and#61616;) exhibited an enha