Yes / In order to improve the efficiency of the structural lateral resistance system, a new type of Grid tubular-Double Steel Plate (GDSP) concrete composite shear walls is proposed and investigated in this paper. Six test specimens, namely one reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall, three GDSP concrete composite shear walls, one concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) frame, one CFST frame and GDSP concrete composite shear wall combined system were physically tested to failure. The seismic performance of the six test specimens, including hysteresis behavior, ductility, energy dissipation, degradation of stiffness and strength, are recorded and compared. The results show that the GDSP concrete composite shear walls exhibited typical bending failure under low reversed cycle loading, achieving good seismic performance with full hysteresis curve, high bearing capacity, excellent ductility, slow degradation of stiffness and bearing capacity. Under the same axial compression ratio, the yield load of GDSP concrete composite shear wall was about 2.73 times, whilst the peak load was 3.23 times, respectively, of those of RC shear wall. On the other hand, the peak displacement of GDSP concrete composite shear wall was 5 times while ultimate displacement was 3.86 times, respectively, of those of RC shear wall. For GDSP concrete composite shear walls, with the increase of axial compression ratio, the peak load of the new types of concrete composite shear wall increases, but the ductility decreases, gradually. The CFST frame and GDSP concrete composite shear wall can work together co-ordinately. The hysteretic curve of the combined system is fuller, the ductility is improved, the degradation of stiffness and strength are slow when compared with GDSP concrete composite shear wall. Under reversed cyclic loading, the GDSP concrete composite shear wall exhibits low stiffness degradation characteristics and excellent fatigue resistance. / The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support to the work by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20201436), the Open Foundation of Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Prefabricated Building and Intelligent Construction (2021), the Science and Technology Project of Jiangsu Construction System (2018ZD047, 2021ZD06), the Science and Technology Project of Gansu Construction System (JK2021-19), the Science and Technology Cooperation Fund Project of Yangzhou City and Yangzhou University (YZU212105), the Science and Technology Innovation Fund of Yangzhou University (2020-65) and the Blue Project Youth Academic Leader of Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province (2020).

<p> The slitted wall, a concept originally used to improve the properties of infilled wall panels, is applied to shear wall structures. An ordinary reinforced concrete wall and three slitted walls were tested under cycles of repeated lateral displacements. The effect of vertical load and the lengthening of the slits to full panel height was also investigated. </p> <p> The walls are compared by considering the different crack formations, stiffness deteriorations, load-deflection characteristics and energy properties. It is shown that vertical slits do not produce improvements to the lateral response of wall panels. The application of vertical loads is beneficial and the lengthening of the vertical slits to full panel height is detrimental to the behaviour of the wall panels. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

Pages vi, 34, 68, 158, 208 and 226 are blank and therefore omitted. / <p> To assess the ductility of shear walls under earthquake loading, more experimental evidence is strongly needed. Ductile response can be achieved through the development of a flexural plastic hinge at the base characterized by yielding of the vertical reinforcement. The length of the plastic hinge and the ultimate curvatures within this region are the essential parameters affecting the ductility and ultimate displacements of reinforced masonry shear walls. The discrepancies in existing information regarding the length of plastic hinges and ultimate curvature may be attributed to the effects of many shear wall parameters such as distribution and amount of vertical and horizontal steel, level of axial load, and wall aspect ratio. </p> <p> The focus of this study was to evaluate the effect of different parameters on plastic hinge length, energy dissipation, and on general ductility of masonry shear walls. To address the aforementioned goal, six fully grouted reinforced masonry walls were tested under fully reversed cyclic lateral loading. All walls were designed to experience ductile flexural failure. The test matrix was chosen to investigate the effects of the amount and distribution of vertical reinforcement and the level of applied axial load on the lateral loading response and ductility of reinforced masonry shear walls. To examine the effects of these parameters, measurements of the applied loads, vertical and horizontal displacements as well as strains in the reinforcing bars were used to analyze the behaviour of the walls. Also, from these measurements, other quantities used in analysis were determined, including displacement ductilities, curvature profiles, energy dissipation and equivalent plastic hinge length. </p> <p> The results show high ductile capability in the plastic hinge region and very little degradation of strength for cyclic loading. High levels of energy dissipation in the reinforced concrete masonry shear walls were achieved by flexural yielding of the vertical reinforcement. All walls showed increasing hysteretic damping ratios with increase in displacement. Results showed that displacement ductility and energy dissipation were highly sensitive to increases in amount of vertical reinforcement but were less dependent on the level of applied axial stress. The results of this study also showed that the measured plastic zone length decreases with increase of the amount of reinforcement while it is almost the same for the different levels of axial stress. Based on the test results, it was shown that reinforced concrete masonry shear walls may be utilized in high intensity seismic areas with performance meeting or exceeding current expectations. </p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

No description available.

<p>The aim of the study presented in this dissertation was to investigate a new method of improving the ductility of masonry shear walls by means of confinement. This proprietary method, referred to as Self-Reinforced Concrete Block (SR Block) employs a previously untried technique of molding lateral confining devices into concrete block. This internal reinforcement provides lateral confinement to the enclosed volume of block and grout material. The resulting triaxial state of compressive stress under axial load allows the confined material to maintain high compressive capacity while undergoing high axial compressive strains. The results from a proof-of-concept program indicated improved plasticity due to the presence of the confining devices within the block. Despite spalling of the unconfined portions of the block at high strains, the SR Block specimens retained load carrying capacities in excess of the peak capacity of similar unreinforced/unconfined block prisms at strains beyond 2% with no visible damage to the confining devices or to the confined material. Further to this proof-of-concept study, an experimental program was undertaken involving additional prism tests as well as testing of shear walls constructed with the SR Block. This program proved the efficacy of a second confining device design in enabling prisms to retain compressive load capacity to strains over six times larger than that of standard grouted masonry. Additionally, the results of the shear wall program indicated that these desirable characteristics were effective in a wall configuration and led to significant increases in the displacement ductility of the walls when compared to similar, unconfined walls. The data presented is expected to serve as a basis for future testing and acceptance of SR Block as a method of increasing the compressive strain capacity of reinforced masonry in order to improve the ductility of masonry shear walls as a lateral force resisting system.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Timber shear walls comprise the vertical element of the lateral force resisting system in many low-rise buildings in North America. A typical shear wall consists of a solid panel product connected to a light timber frame with either a dowel-type fastener, such as nails, or elastomeric adhesives. Shear walls vary in size, depending on their use in a structure, and sometimes contain openings for windows and doors. These changes in wall configuration have an effect on the response of shear walls. A parametric study was performed to determine the effect that aspect ratio (ratio of wall length to height) and openings have on the response of timber shear walls subjected to monotonic and seismic loading. Twenty-five shear wall models of various aspect ratios and opening configurations were created and then analyzed using WALSEIZ, a program developed by the author which utilizes finite element analysis to analyze shear wall models. The maximum resistance, initial stiffness, distribution of forces in the wall and at the reactions, and maximum relative drift (ratio of displacement at the top of the wall to wall height), seismic base shear, and velocity and acceleration at the top of the wall were recorded and examined for each model. The results from the parametric study were used to develop a modified design procedure for timber shear walls. / Ph. D.

A novel shear wall system for building structures has been developed that improves upon the performance of conventional steel plate shear walls by mitigating buckling. The new structural system, called the Ring Shaped - Steel Plate Shear Wall, was investigated and developed through experimental and computational methods. First, the plastic mechanism of the system was numerically derived and then analytically validated with finite element analyses. Next, five large-scale, quasi-static, cyclic experimental tests were conducted in the Thomas M. Murray Structures Laboratory at Virginia Tech. The large-scale experiments validated the system performance and provided data on the boundary frame forces, infill panel shear deformation modes, buckling mode shapes, and buckling magnitudes. Multiple computational modeling techniques were employed to reproduce different facets of the system behavior. First, detailed finite element models were constructed to accurately reproduce the cyclic performance, yielding pattern, and buckling mode shapes. The refined finite element models were utilized to further study the boundary element forces and ultra-low cycle fatigue behavior of the system. Second, reduced-order computational models were constructed that can accurately reproduce the hysteretic performance of the web plates. The reduced-order models were then utilized to study the nonlinear response history behavior of four prototype building structures using Ring Shaped - Steel Plate Shear Walls and conventional steel plate shear walls. The nonlinear response history analyses investigated the application of the system to a short period and a long period building configuration. In total 176 nonlinear response history analyses were conducted and statistically analyzed. Lastly, a practical design methodology for the Ring Shaped - Steel Plate Shear Wall web plates was presented. The experimental tests and computational simulations reported in this dissertation demonstrate that Ring Shaped - Steel Plate Shear Walls are capable of improving seismic performance of buildings by drastically reducing buckling and improving cyclic energy dissipation. / Ph. D.

This thesis presents the results of an effort to quantify the implications of using ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) for shear walls in tall buildings considering structural efficiency and environmental sustainability. The Lattice Discrete Particle Model (LDPM) was used to simulate the response to failure of concrete shear walls without web steel bar reinforcement under lateral loading and constant axial compressive loading. The structural efficiency of UHPC with simulated compressive strength of f'c = 231 MPa was compared to that of a high-performance concrete (HPC) with f'c = 51.7 MPa simulated compressive strength. UHPC shear walls were found to have equal uncracked stiffness and superior post-cracking capacity at a thickness 58% of the HPC shear wall thickness, and at 59% of the HPC shear wall weight. Next, the environmental sustainability of UHPC with compressive strength f'c = 220-240 MPa was compared to that of an HPC with compressive strength f'c = 49 MPa with a life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach, using SimaPro sustainability software. At a thickness 58% of the HPC shear wall thickness, UHPC shear walls with 0% fiber by volume were found to have an environmental impact 6% to 10% worse than that of HPC shear walls, and UHPC shear walls with 2% fiber by volume were found to have an environmental impact 47% to 58% worse than that of HPC shear walls. The results detailed herein will allow for design guidelines to be developed which take advantage of UHPC response in shear. Additionally, this work may be implemented into topology optimization frameworks that incorporate the potential improvements in structural efficiency and sustainability through using UHPC. / Master of Science

A new type of steel plate shear wall has been devised which resists out-of-plane buckling without requiring stiffeners. The ring-shaped steel plate shear wall (RS-SPSW) includes a web plate that is cut with a pattern of holes leaving ring-shaped portions of steel connected by diagonal links. The ring shape resists out-of-plane buckling through the mechanics of how a circular ring deforms into an ellipse. It has been shown that the ring's compression diagonal will shorten a similar amount as the tension diagonal elongates, essentially eliminating the slack in the direction perpendicular to the tension field. Because of the unique features of the ring's mode of distortion, the load-deformation response of the resulting RS-SPSW system can exhibit full hysteretic behavior and possess greatly improved stiffness relative to thin unstiffened SPSW. The concept has been validated through testing on seven 34 in x 34 in panels. General conclusions about influence of different geometric parameters on plate behavior have been made. / Master of Science

The performance of connections and full-scale shear walls constructed with acrylic foam pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) tape is the focus of this thesis. The objectives of this study were first to investigate the bonding characteristics of adhesive tape to wood substrates and then to expand this investigation to cover adhesive-based shear walls subjected to high wind and seismic loadings. A total of 287 monotonic connection tests and 23 reversed cyclic wall tests were performed to achieve these objectives. Connection tests were performed in accordance with ASTM D 1761-88 (2000), and walls were tested using the CUREE (Consortium of Universities for Earthquake Engineering) general displacement-based protocol. Variables investigated within the main study were the following: the use of OSB versus plywood sheathing, the effect of priming and surface sanding on adhesion, and the comparison of connections involving mechanical fasteners with those that utilized only adhesive tape or a combination of the two. It was found that an application pressure of 207 kPa (30 psi) or greater was needed to form a sound bond between the acrylic foam adhesive tape and a wood substrate. Properly bonded OSB and plywood connections provided fairly ductile failure modes. Full-scale walls constructed with adhesive tape performed similarly to traditional wall configurations, while walls constructed with a combination of adhesive tape and mechanical fasteners provided significant gains in strength and toughness. The results of this study serve to provide a foundation for expanding the engineering uses of acrylic foam adhesive tape for structural applications. / Master of Science