Experimental Investigation on Damage Behavior of RC Shear Walls

Abstract

Low-cycle cyclic loading tests were carried out on seven reinforced concrete shear wall specimens with different design parameters to investigate the damage behavior under earthquakes. The damage features including the damage process, deformations, the maximum crack width and the corresponding residue crack width at different damage state were recorded. According to the experimental data, the influence of axial compressive load ratio, stirrup ratio of the boundary column and cross-section shape on the ductility, carrying capacity, deformation characteristic and seismic damage is analyzed. With the axial compressive load ratio increasing, the carrying capacity and shear effect increase while the ductility and residual crack ratio decrease. With the deformation and damage increasing, the shear effect increases. The shear walls with I-shaped cross-section display more shear effect than those with the cross-section of “—” and “T” shape.