Flexure Mechanism and Deformation at Bending-Compression Failure of RC Structural Walls

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to contribute to the understanding of the seismic behavior and performance of reinforced concrete flexure-dominated walls when their boundaries are subjected to high compression. Typical structural wall specimens that conform to the current Japanese design code were investigated experimentally and analytically. The specimens failed in a brittle manner, with concrete crushing over a length of approximately 2.5 times the wall thickness, which was much shorter than that in the tensile plastic region. A model for the bending analysis considering such nonuniform hinge length was proposed to evaluate the structural performance of flexure-dominated walls. The analytical results simulated the experimental behavior well and clarified the bending-compression failure mechanism: the lateral strength deterioration was triggered by a loss of compressive resistance within the neutral axis depth and was then accelerated by a rapid increase of the neutral axis depth. On the basis of these findings, simplified formulas are presented for the evaluation of the ultimate deformations at the bending-compression failure for flexure-dominated walls.