Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Failure Behavior of One-Way High-Strength Concrete Wall Panels

Abstract

A theoretical model is developed in this paper for investigating the nonlinear behavior of one-way high-strength reinforced concrete wall panels. The model accounts for geometric and material nonlinearities, including the strain softening of concrete in compression, cracking, tension stiffening, and the yielding of steel reinforcement. The governing differential equations of the model are solved by the nonlinear shooting method, along with the use of the arc-length continuation method. A smeared cracking model is adopted, and an iterative procedure is conducted at each load step to determine the unknown rigidities of the cracked section and the length of the cracked region. An experimental study that includes testing to failure of eight panels under eccentric axial compression is carried out. The effects of the reinforcement ratio and arrangement, load eccentricity, and slenderness ratio are examined in the experimental study. A good correlation between the theoretical model and the experimental results is obtained. The results reveal that buckling dominates the failure of the tested panels, which is greatly influenced by cracking, and it is sensitive to the initial load eccentricity and slenderness of the panel and almost insensitive to the reinforcement ratio and location. The theoretical and experimental results are compared with design code predictions, and the model is further verified through comparison with other test results in the literature.