Flexural behavior of curved steel-plate composite (SC) walls under combined axial compression and cyclic lateral force

Abstract

The curved steel-plate composite (SC) walls, commonly used in nuclear power plants have not been adequately investigated. This paper aims at the curvature effects on the in-plane and out-of-plane flexural behavior of SC walls with consideration of axial compression. Eight specimens were tested under combined constant axial compression force and cyclic lateral force. The failure modes, moment-drift responses, ductility, stiffness degradation, ductility and energy dissipation are reported. Finite element (FE) models using ABAQUS were established and benchmarked with test results. Results show that the curvature effect on the structural behavior of curved SC wall is insignificant. For the flexural capacities of curved SC walls with T/R ratios no more than 0.5, negligible influential factors λ due to the curvature effect are seen. For the SC walls subjected to in-plane loading, −6.9% ≤ λIP ≤ 0.0% and when under out-of-plane loading, −6.9% ≤ λOP ≤ 6.0%. The plastic in-plane and out-of-plane flexural capacities of flat SC walls considering the axial compression were derived. To modify the proposed equations and determine their limitations, a parametric study was carried out in terms of the parameters including material grades of steel and concrete, reinforcement ratios, axial compression ratios.