Seismic Behavior and Analysis of Dual Function Slitted Shear Wall

Abstract

A new type of passive controlled RC shear wall, called dual function slitted shear wall (DFW wall), was proposed by the first author. DFW wall is formed by setting connectors in the vertical slits of RC slitted wall. DFW wall can provide greater stiffness and strength than RC slitted wall during small and moderate earthquakes, and performs a ductile flexure failure as RC slitted wall with the failure of connectors during severe earthquakes. Experimental studies to investigate the seismic behavior of DFW wall, including seven wall specimens and thirteen connector specimens, were introduced first in this paper. An analytical model was then proposed to calculate the full skeleton load-displacement relation for DFW wall. The analysis results were found to agree well with test ones. A dual seismic structural model was used to study the dynamic response of DFW wall using the time history analysis method. Experimental research and analysis demonstrated the dual control functions, and showed that DFW wall has better seismic performance than the corresponding slitted shear wall.