Seismic Assessment of RC Shear Wall Structure under Real Seismic Sequences Using Equivalent Shell-Wire Model

Abstract

Shear walls are commonly used in areas with moderate to high seismic hazards. They are cost-effective, simple, and significantly reduce the relative displacement. Accurate non-linear assessments of shear wall structures require highly detailed models and finite element (FE) analyses. The inclusion of analyses on the cumulative damage and damage evolution like seismic sequences adds a higher level of complexity to the assessments. Here, an equivalent shell-wire model is used to propose a simple, accurate technique with less computational cost. The areas under the capacity curves were modeled using 3D solid and equivalent shell-wall models and revealed only a 4.48% difference with a 50% difference in computational cost. The hysteresis curves of the experimental and equivalent shell-wire models showed good agreement. To examine the cumulative damage, damage evolution, strength and stiffness degradation of the model, a six-story structure was designed and analyzed under seven mainshocks-aftershocks in both cases of 3D solid and equivalent shell-wire models. The results showed that increasing the plastic strain or damage increased the difference between the results of the models, but this was negligible. Besides the accurate and appropriate results of the equivalent shell-wire model, it required about 39% less computational cost than the 3D solid model.