Effective flexural stiffness for reinforced concrete shear walls having confined boundary elements

Abstract

In the design of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls strength, ductility and effective stiffness of the elements must be taken into account and are important parameters in terms of structural safety. Accurate estimation of the ductility and effective stiffnesses of RC members has always been an attractive subject of study as it provides a reliable estimate of the capacity of buildings under seismic loads. In this study, RC shear wall models with different concrete strength, longitudinal and transverse reinforcement ratios were designed to investigate effective section stiffness and coefficients. The effective stiffness of the cracked section in the RC shear walls designed in different parameters were analytically obtained. Analytically investigated parameters were calculated from TBEC (2018), ACI318 (2014), ASCE/SEI41 (2017) and Eurocode8 (2004, 2005) regulations and nonlinear behaviors. The results obtained according to different design parameters were compared and examined. In the relations suggested for the effective section stiffness coefficient, the confining effect is not taken into account as in the regulations. Therefore, it means neglecting the effects of parameters such as concrete strength, confining effect and axial load levels acting on the section. This situation can lead to unrealistic results in the design and evaluation of RC elements. For this reason, determining the moment-curvature relationship in the design and evaluation of RC elements and obtaining effective section stiffness values are of great importance in order to obtain more realistic results.