Evaluation by Hybrid Simulation of Earthquake-Damaged RC Walls Repaired for In-Plane Bending with Single-Sided CFRP Sheets

Abstract

The realistic seismic response of two damaged reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls repaired using externally bonded carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets was evaluated using hybrid simulation. The CFRP repair used horizontal and vertical CFRP layers applied to a single side of the wall that were anchored with a steel tube anchor system and CFRP fan anchors. The objective of the CFRP repair was to restore the initial stiffness and restore or increase the strength, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity of the damaged walls. Hybrid simulation was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the repair strategy under real earthquake ground motion records with realistic boundary conditions, including the effects of axial load, shear force, and overturning moment. The results show that the single-sided application of the CFRP sheets restored the seismic performance of the damaged RC shear walls tested in this study. Hybrid simulation is shown to be an efficient test method to experimentally study the seismic response of a structural component with realistic boundary conditions over a range of earthquake hazard levels.