Seismic behavior of shear walls partially strengthened with UHPC in boundary element

Abstract

Inspired by studies on shear walls reinforced with high performance cement-based materials, this paper explores the applicability of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) for improving the seismic behavior of shear walls. In this study, a novel shear wall partially strengthened with UHPC in the boundary element was developed, in which the UHPC was cast into the potential plastic hinge region of the boundary element. Partial application of UHPC can reduce construction costs and promote its use in building structures. To study the influence of distribution height and width of UHPC and axial load ratio on the seismic performance, six shear walls with a shear span ratio of 2.1 were tested under axial load and cyclic lateral load. The failure modes, lateral load-lateral displacement hysteretic behavior and ductility of the shear walls were also investigated. The experimental results indicated that the partial application of UHPC in boundary elements could effectively improve the performance of shear walls. Moreover, even if the volume ratio of UHPC was only 0.12, the shear wall partially strengthened with UHPC still showed good seismic performance under a high axial load ratio, indicating that this type of shear wall can be applied to the high seismic intensity and high axial load ratio regions.