Experimental Study of Hybrid Walls with Several Fully Encased Steel Sections

Abstract

Hybrid reinforced concrete steel (RCS) frames consisting of reinforced concrete (RC) column and steel (S) are used frequently in practice for mid-to-high-rise buildings. RCS frames possess several advantages from structural, economical and construction view point compare to either traditional RC or steel frames. One of the most important elements in RCS frames is the composite shear wall consisting of several steel sections encased in reinforced concrete. Regarding the RC walls reinforced by more than one steel profile, namely “Hybrid” wall, although number of researchers have focused on its various aspects, they are currently not covered by standards because they are neither reinforced concrete structures in the sense of Eurocode 2 (1992) or ACI-318 (2005) nor composite steel-concrete structures in the sense of Eurocode 4 (1994) or AISC-2010 (2010). An experimental study on the static behavior of hybrid walls with several embedded steel profiles subjected to combined shear and bending is presented. Six hybrid walls with different types of the structural steel-concrete connection and reinforcement detailing are tested. The specimens exhibited ductility behavior. The experimental results indicate that the load bearing capacity of the hybrid specimens considerably grows, as result of the encased steel profiles. The specimens with shear connectors (i.e. headed studs, stiffeners) were more ductile in terms of displacement ductility than the ones without connectors.