Numerical Study for Seismic Performance of RC Walls Designed with Novel Low Damaged Self-centring Coupling Beams
摘要
Coupled walls are widely used in tall buildings due to the substantial lateral strength and stiffness to resist earthquake actions. Considering the prior ductile failure at horizontal beams can significantly protect or postpone wall pier failure, the seismic design philosophy specifies coupling beams as the primary dissipation components. However, conventional reinforced concrete coupling beams are commonly designed with low span-to-depth ratios due to architectural demands that would inevitably experience unexpected non-ductile failure, even designed with higher longitudinal reinforcement and hoop amounts. In addition, the seismic resilience city highlights the ability of a structure to recover without instantly falling into disorder or permanent damage. In order to improve the resilience of an RC wall structure, this study proposes an innovative low-damaged self-centring coupling beam that can be adapted to either a cast-in-situ or a precast structure in terms of simple detailings. A thorough modelling method was developed to properly predict the responses of low-damaged self-centring coupling beams. Lateral responses were then compared between coupled walls using the RC and the proposed low-damaged self-centring coupling beams. The comparison results achieved the significant speculation that the coupled walls with low-damaged self-centring coupling beams would enhance the resilience of a structure with the reduction of damage and recovery time after earthquakes.