Seismic Behavior of Modern Reinforced Concrete C-Shaped Walls (Specimen UW8)

A series of three experiments were conducted on U-shaped reinforced concrete shear walls, completing an overall testing program to test the performance of planar, coupled and U-shaped walls representative of modern buildings in seismic zones. The walls were designed and tested based on the criteria of ACI 318 and industry practice. Demands on the wall simulated earthquake loads expected to occur in mid-rise buildings. The test specimens simulated the lower three stories of a ten-story wall, with demands at the third floor boundary selected to simulate the loads in the upper seven stories. The u-shaped wall specimens share the same geometry and reinforcement but were subjected to varying loading histories.

The third U‐shaped wall test investigated the bidirectional performance of the test specimen when
considered as part of a coupled core wall system. A cyclic cruciform displacement history was executed
with axial load and moment applied at the top of the specimen determined from the ASCE 7‐07 ELF and
gravity loads applied to the complete coupled core‐wall system.