Plastic Hinge Model and Displacement-Based Seismic Design Parameter Quantifications for Reinforced Concrete Block Structural Walls

Abstract

A practical alternative to the traditional rectangular cross sections of reinforced masonry structural wall systems is to alter the wall ends to allow for smaller compression zone depths, and thus higher curvatures to develop under increased seismic lateral loads. Despite the significantly enhanced seismic performance of flanged and end-confined masonry structural walls compared with their rectangular counterparts, seismic design parameters related to the former two types of walls have not been widely investigated. In addition, prescriptive design requirements for rectangular walls are under continuous development to meet the ongoing research findings in this area. The focus of the current study is to extract specific seismic design parameters of these three types of masonry walls having different end configurations for different aspect ratios when tested under reversed cyclic loads. The parameters investigated include the equivalent plastic hinge lengths,