Comparative investigation, numerical modeling, and buckling analysis of one-way reinforced concrete wall panels

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative study on the Reinforced Concrete (RC) wall design equations for one-way action panels given in the ACI 318–19, Eurocode 2, Australian standards (AS 3600), British standards (BS 8110–1:1997), and other proposed equations in the literature. In addition, ABAQUS software was used to predict the axial compressive capacity of walls. Comparisons are made among different aspects such as the slenderness ratio (0 ≤ H/t ≤ 42), concrete compressive strength (f'c = 21, 28, 35, and 42-MPa), steel yield stress (fy = 300 and 420-MPa), and reinforcement ratios (ρ = 0.5%, 1%, 2%, and 4%). The force carried by the steel and concrete individually was also investigated. Moreover, ABAQUS software was used to calculate the first eigen-value of the wall and the result was compared with the calculations of Euler's buckling formula. The results indicate that the change in the design axial ratio for low H/t was negligible. However, the axial capacity decreased non-linearly with increasing the H/t for (H/t > 6) and increased linearly with increasing f'c. The capacity increased linearly with the increase of the steel ratios; however, the increment recorded by ABAQUS was not linear. Further, when increasing both f'c and ρ, the axial capacity increases; however, this increase is not constant and decreases with increasing the steel ratios. By increasing f'c, the contribution of concrete to the axial capacity increased while the contribution of the steel decreased. In addition, buckling of RC walls is not the dominant failure mode.