Comparative Study on the Behavior of Slender RC Walls with two Methods of Reinforcement

Abstract

RC walls (reinforced concrete) may be subdivided into three categories from the point of view of mechanical behavior which are mainly dependent on the geometric relationship of the height to the width (h/l). Also, the RC walls are defined as slender when this relationship is higher than 1.5, and considered short if it is less than 1.0. When the relationship is in between these two values, the element is called current or moderately slender RC wall. The use of RC walls in seismic regions is becoming more frequent. The reason is that RC walls, in addition to their enabling role in line to-screws of vertical loads, are particularly effective concerning resistance to horizontal forces, thus withstanding the greater part of the seismic action. The RC walls are shaping the behavior of structures, and play a critical role for security on several typologies of structures.This paper focuses on the analysis of the behavior of slender RC walls according to two different methods of reinforcement; the method of bands, and the classical method. A local approach is used by modeling the RC walls solicited under horizontal loading. The numerical model used for concrete is the model “Concrete Damage Plasticity” (CDP) and for steels, the elastic-plastic model serves to work the hardening isotropic. The models allow the visualization of the damage and determination of the failure mode. The numerical aspects are particularly detailed.