Early Crushing Failure of High-Rise Shear Walls with No Boundary Confinement

Abstract

Currently, the ultimate compressive strain of shear walls with no boundary confinement, which is a crucial factor in determining the ductility of shear walls, is empirically assumed to be 0.003 to 0.005. In this study, a fundamental study involving experimental and numerical works was undertaken, to investigate how the actual size and load conditions of plastic hinge region affect the ductility of high-rise shear wall. According to the cyclic loading test, in the case of high-rise shear wall with no boundary confinement, early crushing failure occurred and the ultimate compressive strain was smaller than 0.004 which was generally expected value, because of the size and load condition of high-rise shear wall. According to the additional experimental study and nonlinear analysis conducted for compression zone of high-rise shear wall, it is recommended that for unconfined high-rise shear walls, the maximum compressive strain allowable for ductility design should conservatively be the strain corresponding to the maximum concrete strength and boundary confinement should be provided in the compressive zone where the strain exceeds this ultimate strain.