Numerical Modeling of Slender RC Shear Walls Subjected to Monotonic and Cyclic Loadings

Abstract

Reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls are used to provide lateral stiffness and strength in RC structures as well as steel structures. There are different approaches to model shear walls for both linear and nonlinear analyses. Proper modeling of shear walls depends on the type of loading, on the geometry of the wall as well as on the failure state expected. However, due to the complex behavior of concrete and reinforcing steel often a detailed nonlinear model is required which yield compatible results with those of the experiments. In this paper, two fiber modelsare presented and verified that the modelsare capable to simulate results of the monotonic and cyclic wall tests with an acceptable accuracy. It is shown that the presented fiber modeling of RC walls provides an adequate representation of stiffness and strength behavior of the walls which had been tested by previous researchers. Moreover, due to easy application the presented fiber modeling, it can be used by engineers in practice as well in detailed analysis. Monotonic and cyclic test of the walls are simulated by using the flexure-shear interaction fiber model and the fiber beam column element, respectively, where the aspect ratio of the walls is not less than two. Constitutive material laws with hysteretic rules are implemented for concrete and steel fibers. Numerical results illustrated graphically show good agreement with the experiments.