Experimental Investigations on the Residual Performance of Earthquake-Damaged Low-Rise-Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls

Abstract

This study investigates the seismic residual performance of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls with different levels of earthquake damage through reversed cyclic loading tests. The test specimens include slightly damaged walls, moderately damaged walls, and repaired specimens after moderately damaged walls. From the test and analysis results, it is evident that the residual strength and deformation capacity of slightly and moderately damaged RC shear walls do not decrease compared with the undamaged wall. However, the residual stiffness and energy dissipation capacity of damaged walls significantly decrease. The test results are also compared with the reduction factors for residual stiffness, strength, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation capacity in the FEMA 306 and JBDPA post-earthquake assessment guidelines to assess their applicability. Additionally, this study proposes a simplified model to describe residual lateral capacity curves of damaged RC walls at different damage levels for nonlinear pushover analysis, allowing engineers to easily convert the capacity curves of undamaged walls to damaged ones.