ESTIMATION OF DISPLACEMENT CAPACITY OF RECTANGULAR RC SHEAR WALLS USING EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL DATABASE

This study is focused on the evaluation of the displacement capacity of RC shear walls using both experimental and analytical results. The first observation of the study is that few experimental results for slender RC shear walls having thicknesses larger than 150 mm are available in the literature. From the experimental database, it was observed that the mean and the median ultimate drift of squat RC shear walls is about half of that obtained for slender RC shear walls. Considering the limitation of the experimental database, the simple empirical model for the ultimate drift ratio of slender RC shear walls proposed in this study is also based on available analytical results from the literature. The model provides a good fit with the observed results and besides, due to the fact that it does not require sectional analysis of the element, it allows a rapid assessment of the displacement capacity of slender RC shear walls as a function of the seismic design code parameters. The proposed formula can be inserted in future revisions of the seismic assessment guidelines for RC structures for rapid seismic evaluation purposes.