Numerical Modeling and Parametric Studies of RC Shear Wall with Replaceable Corner Components

Conventional reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall may suffer severe damage at the bottom corners under strong earthquakes, which is very difficult to be repaired. A new type of earthquake resilient RC shear wall with replaceable corner components was proposed. The experimental results showed that the seismic performance of the new shear wall was improved significantly compared to conventional RC wall and the damage to the new shear wall mainly concentrated on replaceable corner components. However, the influence of some design parameters on seismic performance of the new shear wall is not clear. In order to systematically investigate the seismic performance of the novel shear wall, the numerical model for this type of shear wall is developed in this study. The comparison between the simulation results and experimental results demonstrates that the proposed model is capable of predicting the hysteretic behavior of the novel shear wall. Parametric studies of the novel shear wall are then conducted to investigate the effects of the bearing capacity ratio of replaceable corner component to upper wall panel, the height and length of replaceable corner component, and the thickness of embedded steel plate. Outcome of this study is beneficial for numerical modeling and seismic design of the novel shear wall.