The influence of the degree of tensile strain to the ultimate strength and mode of failure of seismic walls with low-reinforced end-sections

Abstract

It is considered logical to be expected that walls designed either with increased ductility requirements according to the Greek Concrete Code 2000 or designed to be in a high ductility category according to EC8: 2004, NZS 3101: 2006 and other modern international codes, present extensive tensile deformations, especially in the plastic hinge region of their base. Large tensile deformations are expected depending on the geometric characteristics and the level of ductility design of walls. Due to the cycling nature of loading, these tensile deformations can cause lateral instability of seismic walls depending on the size of tensile deformations. In the framework of the current work, it is experimentally investigated one of the most crucial parameters affecting the stability of structural walls, which is the degree of tensile strain of the longitudinal reinforcement of the extreme edges of load-bearing RC walls. The present paper tries to investigate the influence of the degree of tensile strain to the ultimate strength and the modes of failure of test specimens using 5 test specimens reinforced with the same longitudinal reinforcement ratio (1.79%) but strained to different degrees of elongation.