Seismic Behavior of Modern Reinforced Concrete C-Shaped Walls (Specimen UW6)

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. 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 first U-shaped wall test subjected the specimen to a uni-directional cyclic loading history about the strong axis. Two cycles were completed at each drift level until failure of the specimen. An axial load and overturning moment to shear ratio were held constant throughout the test.