CALCULATION METHOD OF LATERAL STIFFNESS OF PVC CAVITY PARTITION WALL WITH DIFFERENT CONNECTION FORMS

Abstract

To explore the difference in seismic performance of walls with different connections, this paper designs a pseudo-static test of three groups of steel frames infilled with walls and a group of empty steel frame as a control. The test phenomena and the datum are used to evaluate the performance of structures. The results show that: (I) the initial stiffness and the peak load of the cast-in-place wall are large. The main failure modes are cracking at the joint between the wall and the frame, crushing at the corner, and internal splitting as well as curving outwards under large displacement. (II) The wall with L-shaped connectors dissipates energy by bolt slip and the yield deformation of connectors, which has the lowest contribution to the frame in stiffness and strength. The main failure is the cracking of cement mortar at the joint. (III) The connection mode of U-shaped and L-shaped connectors is relatively safe and reliable, which could make the steel frame and wall panel work better together under the action of earthquake. It could be recommended to use according to the bearing capacity requirements; Walls connected by reinforcement are not recommended because of brittleness failure, poor ductility, ordinary bearing capacity and energy dissipation capacity. Based on the principle of equivalent tension and compression bar, a simplified formula for calculating the lateral stiffness of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cavity wall panel embedded in fabricated steel frame is proposed, and the accuracy of the calculation results is verified.