Experimental Investigation of the Effect of the Shear Wall Position on Earthquake Behavior in Single-storey and 3D Reinforced Concrete Buildings

Abstract

Abstract Preventing the damage of reinforced concrete structures starts with the design of carrier systems. In the selection of the carrier systems, it is important to use reinforced concrete shear walls to increase the stiffness and strength of the structure against earthquake forces. The location of the shear walls in the plan is a detail to be considered for the carrier of the building. In this study, the torsion effects and the change between the force-displacement relations of the carrier systems that will occur in the structural system as a result of the change in the position of the shear wall within the reinforced concrete frame under the effect of an earthquake have been experimentally investigated. For this purpose, one-storey, three-dimensional with two openings in both directions and a total of 5 samples were produced, the first sample without shear wall and the other four samples with shear wall at different positions. The samples were manufactured in a scale of 1/2 and the results obtained from the experiments performed in the laboratory under the effect of earthquake load were compared with each other. As a result of the study, the strength envelope, stiffness, energy consumption, torsion development in the structure, crack formation, crest displacement measured by two different methods, stresses in concrete and reinforcement, and unit deformations in the reinforcement of different elements were measured and evaluated comprehensively. Depending on the reinforced concrete shear wall position, significant differences have been observed in the yield load, the amount of top displacement and the structure torsion in the experimental models. In addition to the presence or absence of reinforced concrete shear wall, whether the shear wall position is symmetrical or not and the position of the shear wall within the structure affected the behavior of the building under the influence of lateral forces. In order to obtain an earthquake resistant structure, the use of the reinforced concrete shear walls in the carrier system in a symmetrical and non-irregular way has emerged as an issue that should be considered in design. The location of the reinforced concrete shear wall, which directly affects the building behavior with the results of the experiment, causes the formation of section effects on the elements that are not predicted in the design.