Research on shear capacity of Dense-Steel-Column wall structure

Abstract

Based on the previous experimental study on the shear capacity of the dense-steel-column wall (DSCW), to reveal the failure mechanism of DSCW under seismic load, the finite element analysis (FEA) of six test specimens from the experimental study is carried out, and the FEA results are compared with that of the experimental study. To further study the influences of different factors on the seismic behavior of DSCW and to calculate the shear capacity of DSCW, the parametric study is performed with 90 FEA models considering different parameters such as axial compression ratio (μ), column side length (l), and spacing to side length ratio (l/b). The results show that the local buckling failure of the columns occurs at the bottom of the wall with obvious in-plane bending deformation. Adding diagonal bracings greatly increases the stiffness of the wall, and the shear capacity of the wall with diagonal bracings decreases more slowly under the cyclic load. From the hysteresis curves and skeleton curves, it is seen that all specimens have good energy dissipation capacity and high shear capacity. With the constraint of the out-of-plane wall limb, the L-shaped and T-shaped walls have less deflection, higher shear capacity, and better energy dissipation capacity compared with that of than the |-shaped wall. The parametric study shows that the ductility decreases with the increase of axial compression ratio. The shear capacity of the wall increases with the increase of the column side length and with the decrease of the column spacing to side length ratio. In the end, the calculating formula of the shear bearing capacity of DSCW was put forward, the calculated values are in good aggreement with those of finite element analysis.