Experimental study and numerical simulation of a reinforced concrete hinged wall with BRBs at the base

Abstract

To improve the seismic resilience of traditional reinforced concrete shear walls, this paper proposes a reinforced concrete hinged wall (RCHW) with buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) at the base (RCHWBBs). A quasi-static test is conducted on an RCHWBB to investigate the seismic performance of the proposed RCHWBB, and then a repeated quasi-static test is conducted on the RCHWBB after the damaged BRBs are replaced to investigate the seismic resilience. The results show that the yielding of BRBs can effectively protect the wall; additionally, the proposed RCHWBB has a shuttle-shaped and full hysteresis curve with no obvious strength or stiffness degradation, implying good seismic performance. Compared with the first quasi-static test, only a few new cracks appear in the V-shaped area of the RCHW during the second test, and the other phenomena and test results are basically the same, which confirms that the proposed RCHWBB has good seismic resilience. Finally, a finite element model of the RCHWBB is established using ABAQUS software, and the theoretical formulas of the skeleton curve and the V-shaped area are derived. The numerical and theoretical results are basically consistent with the test results, which verifies the accuracy of the proposed numerical model and theoretical formulas.