Experimental study on seismic behavior of dense-steel-column sandwich wall

Abstract

This paper describes an experimental study on the seismic behavior of the dense-steel-column sandwich walls. Six full-scale specimens which are |-shaped, L-shaped, and T-shaped with or without diagonal braces were tested under low-frequency cyclic load. With the same axial compression ratio, the failure pattern of specimens without diagonal braces is as follows. There was no obvious failure phenomenon at the beginning of the test. As the increase of the horizontal displacement, the steel columns buckled in succession, and the buckling was local in the lower part. As the further increase of the horizontal displacement, the local buckling range of the columns extended till the specimen finally failed. With the same axial compression ratio, the failure pattern of specimens with diagonal braces is as follows. The braces locally buckled under the cyclic load at the beginning of the test. As the increase of the horizontal displacement, the buckling range of braces extended. As the horizontal displacement increases, the braces were fractured and the columns buckled in succession in the bottom until the specimen finally failed. The experimental results show that the diagonal braces can increase the specimens' shear stiffness and shear strength, while the braces can also improve the specimens' ductility and energy dissipation performance. The shear strength of the L-shaped wall is increased by 62.02% with the braces. The ductility coefficient of the T-shaped wall is increased by 110.58% with the braces. Additionally, it is also noted that the seismic performance of the L-shaped and T-shaped walls with end flanges is better than that of the |-shaped wall.