Cyclic Behavior of Low Ductility Walls Considering Perpendicular Action

Abstract

Low ductility wall buildings became part of the Peruvian construction boom in the first decade of the 21st century. Through government promotion under the “Mi Vivienda” (“My house”) program, the construction of low rise buildings of 5 stories using walls with wire mesh reinforcement, provided a partially solution of an apartment deficit, at reasonable cost. The heights of buildings started to grow, reaching 12 to 16 stories. In the design of these walls, provisions recommend walls corners confinement, because the action of the walls ensemble provide limited ductility under seismic behavior. A comparison of H-shaped wall with one-plane wall is presented in this paper. Here, an experimental test has been performed by a cyclic loading test considering the action of a constant axial load of 40 kN, where the elastic stiffness of H-shaped wall is higher than that of a one-plane wall. Also resistant of the H-shaped wall increases, but ductility in both walls remains similar.