PSI - Issue 78

Alvaro Lopez et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 807–814

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5.3. Wall W2 SD

Wall W2-SD was tested under a the Brienza displacement history (short-duration). For this specimen, failure was not reached since the lateral restraining mechanism failed at a lateral displacement of 30 mm. W2-SD reached ductility 6 and the test was immediately stopped due to this unexpected problem. Prior to this sudden testing failure, horizontal cracks at the level of the transverse reinforcement were observed after yielding of the longitudinal reinforcement. The damage observed prior to lateral instability is illustrated in Fig. 4a. The load-displacement response is shown in Fig. 4b. Specimen W2-SD was able to attain maximum displacement ductility of 6. The peak lateral load was 71.7 kN and occurred at a lateral displacement of approximately 13.8 mm. 5.4. Wall W3 LD Wall W3-LD was tested under a the Angol displacement history (long-duration). Wall W1-ST exhibited moderately ductile behavior. After yielding of the longitudinal reinforcement, the horizontal flexural cracks located near the base of the wall propagated toward the center of the wall specimen. Also, additional flexurally induced diagonal cracks were visible along the height of the walls. Complete spalling of concrete cover that exposed the reinforcement occurred at the wall boundaries generally at about 24mm wall displacement ( =4.8 ) for the wall (Fig. 5a). The lateral load vs. displacement hysteresis curve (shown in Fig. 5b) for this specimen indicates reasonable ductile behavior and energy dissipation. Specimen W3-LD was able to attain maximum displacement ductility of -5.4. The peak lateral load was -78.1 kN and occurred at a lateral displacement of approximately -27 mm. The specimen did not exhibit a significant decrease in lateral strength and therefore, the specimen was saved for retrofitting purposes in the future.

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Fig. 3. (a) Damage and (b) hysteretic response of wall W1-ST

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Fig. 4. (a) Damage and (b) hysteretic response of wall W2-SD