Seismic Behavior of Modern Reinforced Concrete Structural Walls (Specimen PW2)

A series of four experiments were conducted to study the behavior of planar reinforced concrete walls representative of modern buildings in seismic zones. Tests were designed per the ACI 318 building code. 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 four tests investigated the following parameters: i) shear demand, accomplished by varying the simulated load distribution of the wall, ii) reinforcement layout, with longitudinal reinforcement concentrated in boundary elements or distributed evenly along the length of the wall, and iii) the use of lap splices in the expected plastic hinge region of the wall. Experiment 2 is considered the reference specimen. Each of the other specimens is altered from Experiment 2 for one of the parameters listed.

Experiment 2 is described by the following:
* Boundary element longitudinal reinforcement distribution.
* Uniform lateral load distribution (effective height = 0.50H)
* Spliced longitudinal reinforcement at base of wall.