The response of reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall as a lateral resisting member has been studied extensively, but it still demands a general practical model that identifies the envelope within which load-drift paths occur during cyclic loading. Such a broad model is vital to ensure adequate lateral strength to resist reversal loadings imposed on these walls during earthquake events and ductility to measure inelastic deformation capabilities. A new model to define the backbone curve is developed in this paper for squat, intermediate, and slender flanged and nonflanged RC walls. The most common failure modes observed in the field and laboratory experiments are investigated and incorporated in the proposed model to estimate the response of these walls from elastic range until ultimate failure. The main parameters controlling the estimation of drifts that features the backbone curve thresholds are presented in this paper. The results of proposed model are compared with the outcomes of 117 specimens experimentally tested by other researchers. Also, the results are compared with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 356, the updated American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)/Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) 41, and Eurocode (EC8 and EC2) provisions which reveal that only one general model, proposed in this paper, can capture the response of RC structural walls with an aspect ratio ranging from 0.35 to 2.5 and an axial load ratio from 0 to 0.4 with good agreement with experimental outcomes. K E Y W O R D S cyclic loadings, flexural failure, nonlinear dynamic modeling, shear failure, sliding shear, web crushing
Rapid impact compaction (RIC) has been used effectively as a ground improvement at medium depth technique for granular soils. RIC is normally used to increase bearing capacity, reduce potential settlements and mitigate liquefaction. This paper presents a calibrated three-dimensional cap-plasticity finite-element model (FEM) to simulate ground improvement using RIC. The results of 107 RIC field compaction points were used to calibrate and validate the FEM. Numerical outcomes of the FEM showed good agreement with the field compaction results. The FEM was further used to propose a relationship between the soil bearing capacity and the number of hammer blows for engineering practice. This is attained by performing pushover analysis of a spread footing resting on RIC improved soils with different numbers of RIC blows. The RIC, circular 1·5 m anvil was used as the spread footing. The applied stresses that produced 25 mm settlement are considered the improved soil bearing capacity. Also, the paper presents a recommendation for the optimum number of blows after which more blows will have no significance.
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